


Hope in Stranger's Land

by AyaAzahr



Category: Vikings (TV)
Genre: F/M, Sigurd lives, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2019-02-27 07:09:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 28,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13243119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AyaAzahr/pseuds/AyaAzahr
Summary: She never feels like she belongs in her country. First of all, she looks different to other people there; Secondly, she has memories of her childhood in which she doesn't understand the language nor the customs, and she remembers the day they name her. In her journey to Frankia with her brother, a warrior who had been tasked to accompany a princess, their ship was attacked by a band of pirate and slave traders. She turns from a wealthy merchant's daughter to a slave in a blink of eye, but she refuses to give in.In Kattegat, she kills her master in secret, freeing herself from the chain.





	1. Tomoe of Naniwa

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at making Vikings fanfiction. It's also has been a long time since I've written any xOC fic, but I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Some Japanese weapons and customs are mentioned here and you may or may not know of them, so I'll describe and explain it in the note at the end.

She knows she doesn’t belong there. There, everyone elses’ skin is the colour of the milk whereas hers has a slight tinge of tan. She has seen people there who works beneath the sun every single day, such as the fishermen, having sun-burnt tanned skin, yet it still isn’t the same colour as hers. Moreover, she stays most of the times at home, protected from the sun and with her thick-layered attire that covers most of her skin, there is just no way she can get tanned.

She can feel it from her heart that she does not belong there, or at least come from there. The people raising her, though, are obviously a local. How she ended up there, she doesn’t know nor remember. What she does remember is that her earliest memory from her childhood is from when she was three years old.

She remembers  being so disoriented and scared she didn’t want to meet anyone, not even her parents, or whoever is raising her up until now. She remembers not being able to understand a thing they said they had to teach her how to speak and write, she remembers being wrong on so many things she said and did, she had to be taught the general manners on how to behave, and most of all, she remembers getting a new name, “Tomoe.”

Tomoe; There were times when she felt like the name didn’t belong to her, but she grows into it. Tomoe is the second child of a wealthy merchant named Sakichi; Tomoe’s sibling is a young warrior who was born with the name Takechiyo and later given the name Ienari. Ienari is a kind and strong young man who would drag Tomoe to the training field, teaching her archery and how to hold a _naginata_ while he himself would practice with his _oodachi._

Tomoe had ask to Ienari about her weird feeling of not feeling belong in there, and the only answer she got from him was a gentle smile and pat on her head,

“You belong here in this household, Tomoe. You’re my sister and my family.”

As unsatisfying of an answer that was, Ienari refused to talk more when Tomoe pushed more regarding the issue.

“Tomoe,” calls Ienari one day when Tomoe was sewing a new dress to sell.

She looked up to see her brother approaching with his servant following closely behind. She bowed, “Welcome back, brother. How did the talk with Lord Emishi went?”

Ienari takes his sandals off and hands his long sword to his servant before crawling closer towards his sister, “My sister, I have been tasked to go to China to learn from their country and their nobles! Come join me, Lord Emishi had given his permission for you to go with me so you can learn from their ladies!”

Tomoe frowns, “Why would I learn from their ladies? What am I to do with such knowledge?”

“Why, to teach to our people, of course! And you can buy their goods, and you can learn about their techniques and implement it when we’re back home and you can sell it! Surely father would be pleased!”

“I see,” Tomoe smiles at her brother and put her sewing job down, “I’ll think about it. But thank you for offering me this huge opportunity, and congratulations to you,” She rises and cocks her head towards the corridor inside the house, “Why don’t you tell that to Father? I’ll go and prepare the dinner.”

Ienari grins and nods, then he walks away to tell the news to their father. Tomoe on the other hand, pondering over her options to go or not to. Now that she is 12 years old, Tomoe does feel like she wants to see the world outside before she’s married off to some strangers. Because although she’s good with her bows and _naginata_ , she’s not a real female warrior and her father would probably marry her to a fellow merchant’s son someday.

The next day, she accepts Ienari’s offer and packs her belongings and things Ienari advices her to bring, such as _tantou,_ a small dagger, and her _naginata,_ a polearm weapon with a curved blade at the top. She accompanies Ienari as he shops for supplies, as asked by Lord Emishi the day after, and waits patiently until the big day.

...

It was a nice day with not a single clouds in the sky. The warriors, namely the _samurai_ and the _onna-bugeisha_ , and the extra people they bring along are saying their farewells to their loved ones as their servants load their belongings into the ship.

Ienari and Tomoe stands at the edge of the ship as  the ship departs, waving to their father who is weeping as he waves back at them, chasing the ships alongside the port.

“It will be fine, sister. We have asked for the blessings from the Gods and I will protect you with all my soul and being,” Ienari reassures Tomoe, as well as himself.

Tomoe smiles, and nods.

...

Tomoe immensely enjoys her stay in China. The people taught her of new religions she had never knew before, and some are the ones she knew, but their practice was a little bit different from the practice she knows people are doing back home. Ienari has been busy these days, but that hasn’t become a trouble for the people has been nice and helpful to her.

What she loves the most is her study time with other fellow foreigners to the country. They would learn the language of China and be shown their culture in the form of entertainment shows such as dance and act.

A month has passed and Tomoe was packing her belongings and more to bring back home when a servant come knocking, telling her that the emperor’s daughter had asked for her presence. Tomoe stops packing and follows the servant to the princess’ room.

The princess, as it turns out, has just asked Ienari to come with her to her journey to a country called Frankia. However, Ienari said that he would only come if he can bring Tomoe along. Knowing that, Tomoe smiles to the floor as she bowed lower and gratefully accepts the offer.

Tomoe writes a letter for their father and asks a fellow merchant to give the letter to Sakichi. The merchant accepts the letter and her payment, and wished for her safety on her journey.

Tomoe is confused at first, on why the princess would asks her brother to accompany her on her long journey, but it became obvious later on, that the princess fancies her brother, from the way she has asked for his presence beside her, even at night.

Ienari laughs at Tomoe’s teasing one day, and said that she is wrong, that there is nothing going on with the princess and he. He bashfully sends Tomoe away to learn the basic language of Frankia with some other people. Tomoe, however, smiles a knowing smile at her brother before heading towards the class.

...

Tomoe wakes up to a dark, and suffocatingly crowded room. She looks around, to find that the room is full with other women in rags and cuffs. She looks down at herself and sees her beautiful silk and wool robes are no more. She is wearing a similar sorry excuse of a robe as other women inside the room, and her hands and feet are cuffed in a similar cuffs as others.

Panicking, Tomoe asked around, “Where are we?” yet the other person she asked doesn’t bother answering her.

“Excuse me, do you know where we are?” She asked another woman, but she doesn’t answer either.

She asked another woman, and another, and another, and another, yet noone do so much as to shake their head.

Tomoe resorts on banging the room’s door, screaming and asking help to whoever happens to be outside. A woman catches her wrist, and shakes her head.

“No! Don’t you understand? They need to let us out! This is a mistake!” She frees her wrist from the lady’s grasp and bangs on the door once more, “My name is Tomoe and I am the sister of Isshi no Ienari! This is a mistake! Let me out!”

What she gets next is a bang from outside, and yellings in language she doesn’t understand. Scared yet unmoved, Tomoe tries again, this time in French, asking the man outside to free her.

The door opens and Tomoe smiles in relief. That is until she is yanked outside and sees people with beautiful coloured eyes with bodies way bigger than the men she has seen, and light with slight pinkish spots on their skin, their hair is the colour of the paddies during harvesting season, some lighter than others. What scares her, however, is the fact that one of them carries a whip and the others are holding her down, stripping her out of her clothes as she resists.

Tomoe has Ienari to thank to her self defense practice. Before trained with a bow and a _naginata_ , Ienari has taught her bare-handed martial arts for years until he approves of her ability. With that knowledge of self defense, Tomoe fights for her safety.

Her small hand successfully slips from the grasp of one of the man, and she grabs the collar of the other man who is still holding her other hand, and slams him to the ground, freeing herself completely from their grasps. She holds her stance as she looks around at the men surrounding her, They looked surprised and on their guard. Good, she says to herself.

Another attempts to hit her with a heavy looking stick, so she ducks and again, grabs his collar and clothes, slamming him to the ground and taking the stick. The stick is long, although not as long as her _naginata_ , it will have to do, she says to herself once more. Another tries to punch her, but she backs away  and hit the man with the stick right at the back of his neck and knocks him out.

One of them shouts and yells at her with, again, an unknown language, and Tomoe readies herself for another attack. That is, until a man, much larger than the men surrounding her steps in. She swings the stick as he tries to grabs her. The stick breaks upon hitting his shoulder, just beside his neck. The man growls and grabs a hold of her neck and chokes her hard.

Tomoe is ready. She is ready to die. If she is to die, then so be it. She has fought for her dignity and for that, she is proud of herself. She smiles internally, wishing Ienari had seen her fight just before. Perhaps she should have taken the test to become an _onna-bugeisha_ , a female warrior. Perhaps she should have defied her overprotective father and entered anyway. Ienari is right. Tomoe _is_ strong. Oh, how she misses her brother.

In a flash, the memory of how her, or rather, the Princess’ ship, got attacked by a band of pirates comes back to her. Her brother slayed some of the pirates to keep the princess’ safe. Afterall, that was the whole reason why they had bring Ienari. He had no time to check on his own sister as he defended the princess, but Tomoe understood his reason and didn’t look for her brother. She ran towards the weaponry and grabbed her _naginata,_ and bow and arrow. She then ran to the highest dock and slayed a member of the pirate who was already there and readied her bow and arrows.

She shot some of her arrows and thankfully, because they aren’t that finely protected, killed some. She spotted her brother, guarding the princess with all he could and decided to aim for the person he was fighting. That is, before she felt a hit and saw her world grew dark.

As hers now. Her body slowly goes numb and she gives up on fighting. She will die an honourable death, and she would meet the spirits of other people, other crews who had died, and she hopes his father would ask for a shaman to perform a ritual, so she can tell him what happened and tell him that she loves him. The idea makes her smile, and then she passes out.

...

Three years has passed from that fight and Tomoe has been bought as a slave over and over, only to be sold again for her noncooperative behaviour. She had escaped death multiple times, and had killed multiple times also. Mostly killing people who tried to either rape or kill her.

Yes, Tomoe knows that her days living as the daughter of a wealthy merchant is over and she knows that she is now a slave. However, her heart and soul still refuses to aknowledge that she is less than anybody. In her mind, she is still that girl that begged her father to allow her to take the test into a school that would later make her into a proper _onna-bugeisha._

She may not be an _onna-bugeisha_ , but she is as strong as one. With her experiences now, she may even be stronger than some.

The slave trader’s ship reached a place she had heard from some members of the slave traders. Yes, she can also understand what they’re saying now. As well as speaking in some other languages her previous masters had spoken.

Kattegat.

That’s the name of the place; Kattegat.

They talked about a lot of stuff regarding the King of Kattegat. King Ragnar Lothbrok. The adventurous and clever king. The descendant of Odin. The king that has not been back in more than a decade.

They line the slaves up on the port and people rounded up, looking and starting to bid the slaves they  want. People are intrigued by Tomoe’s unusual look and a lot of them bid high for her and Tomoe rolls her eyes. Of course, people just love to _taste_ something new don’t they?

Her bid stops and Tomoe is sold to a rich farmer. He is a nasty looking, red-faced old man who had eyed her with nothing but lust since the very beginning. Tomoe bites her cheeks as she feels the man’s hands grabbing her butt cheeks so as not to cause a scene.

No, not this time. No, she has plan now.


	2. Kattegat

It didn’t take a day until he tried to rape her in his house and Tomoe fought back. She didn’t let him escape and killed him. Thankfully, he lives alone and it was easy for Tomoe  bury him below the horse barn.

Next, Tomoe took his money and bought materials for her to make her own clothes. She had seen beautiful clothes from other countries that she may or may not try to recreate later on, but for now, all she wanted to do is to wear clothes like the ones she used to wear back at home.

So she did. She made clothes more beautiful than she has ever had, even back at home. Oh, if her father had known of the many material unique to each countries.

Her father.

Oh,  her father.

Tomoe stops admiring the blue _kimono_ she had made. She thinks of her father, her father, the rich yet lonely merchant who loves his children more than he loves any of his treasures and goods. Sakichi the Merchant who had, in celebration  on Ienari becoming a _samurai_ serving an honorable lord, gave out a large sum of his wealth to the temples and to the poor.

Tomoe looks at her tanned skin, and thinks of how similar her father’s skin looks next to a fresh bowl of milk. Ienari’s too, but his is slightly tanned from his patrols and outdoor practices, although it’s still lighter than hers. Tomoe still wonders if she is really a child of Sakichi’s, but she never questions whether Sakichi is her father for he had raised her with such love, and for that, surely he is her father, no matter what their blood relation is.

Tomoe wipes her tears with her hands and changes her clothes to a _kimono_. She doesn’t know what she looks like without having people telling her, but she feels beautiful as she puts on the blue _kimono_ with the _tarikubi_ in the darker colour of blue than the rest of the _kimono_ with the comfortable wide sleeve-pocket,  along with her grey _hakama_ over her _kimono,_ and her black _mo_ over her _hakama_.

Tomoe nods to herself and looks at herself at the reflective metal on a shield that had been put up and combs her hair down. She knows that people here likes to braid their hair, but Tomoe doesn’t know how to do braid her hair as no one ever taught her how, so she lets her hair down and save a few of them framing her face while she ties down the rest of them.

Satisfied, Tomoe smiles at her reflection and heads to town. She needs to see the blacksmith.

The swords of the people of Kattegat is a straight, double-edged sword, like a lot of other countries’ she had been. Tomoe frowns, even the metal is different than the ones used to make _katana, naginata,_ or any other weapons used in her country. The blacksmith had asked her what kind of weapon she’s looking for, and Tomoe had described to him what Naginata looks like and what it’s made of.

“Oh, you mean like the one they display at the great hall?” Asked the blacksmith.

Hearing that, Tomoe can’t possibly not run towards the great hall.

 

.

.

.

 

The _naginata_ displayed in the great hall was hers. It was hers, she is sure. The red pole, the Soga Clan’s _mon_. There is no doubt about it. Tomoe unconsciously reached for the weapon.

“I’ve never seen you before,” a firm female voice calls out from behind.

Tomoe stops her hand and turns around to see a beautiful blond haired lady in an exquisite dress. She doesn’t know who she is, but she knows her rank must be way beyond her. She hesitates on whether she should do a _dogeza_ right there or not, but she eventually decides to just bow.

“My name is Naniwa no Tomoe, I have just arrived three days ago,” Tomoe would love to use the surname her brother is using, however, she feels weird using the surname given to her brother alongside hers. After all, she’s not a warrior. So she uses the name of her city instead.

The lady raises one eyebrow at the bowing girl before her, and tilts Tomoe’s chin upwards so she would stand straight. The lady turns to walks and sits on the chair at the front centre of the room and gestures at Tomoe to come, so she does.

“I am Queen Aslaug, queen of Kattegat,” she introduces herself.

At the word, “queen,” Tomoe immediately kneels on the ground and bows deeply her head touching the floor.

“My queen! Please forgive my rudeness,” Tomoe said.

She can hear people whispering, some even chuckles mockingly. Tomoe knows it’s not in their custom to do so, but her heart would be restless had she not do so.

“Naniwa no Tomoe, please raise your head and stand up straight,” Aslaug said, clearly amused by her behaviour. Tomoe does as asked, though she doesn’t dare to look the queen in the eyes, so she looks down at the ground. Aslaug, though, doesn’t seem happy about that, “Look at me in the eyes, Naniwa no Tomoe.”

Awkwardly, Tomoe looks at Aslaug’s eyes. Her eyes shifts to look at other people. Like the huge, bear-like man standing not very far from Aslaug’s throne.

“Naniwa no Tomoe. You have a very long name, any chance to make it short?” Aslaug asked, clearly teasing Tomoe with her tone.

“Tomoe, my queen. My name is Tomoe. Naniwa is the city where I have come from.”

“So your name is Tomoe? _Just_ Tomoe?”

“Yes, my queen. My father is a merchant and my brother is a warrior. The lord he served gave him a new name and a surname, but I am no warrior, I feel like I do not deserve to use the surname. I was with my brother doing a mission for the clan, sailing to Frankia when,” Tomoe bit her lip, “A storm came and wreck our ship. We got separated, I honestly do not know if my brother had survived. This was three years ago.”

“Your brother is a warrior, I see. And you are?”

“A scholar,” Tomoe blushes, “Or, at least, I was aiming to be one. In my country, my queen, women are excluded from learning how to write; though there was no rule against it. So my father would teach me how to read and write at night after he came home,” Her eyes are starting to sting, “I want to be a famous scholar and prove that it is a mistake to exclude women from learning on how to read and write—or, well, that was the plan.”

Tomoe gathers her courage to look Aslaug in the eyes, expecting some kind of mockery. Yet the queen silently listens to her story with an unreadable smile.

“Your country. Where is it? What is it called?” Asked the bear-like man that had been standing by Aslaug’s throne.

As if on cue, four young men enter the great hall with great confidence, walking, or in one of the young men’s case, crawling, towards Aslaug’s throne. But of course, they have to  inspect Tomoe from head to toe before walking to greet Aslaug.

“Meet my sons, Ubbe, Hvitserk, Sigurd, and Ivar,” Aslaug introduces, “That is their half-brother, Bjorn.”

Tomoe was about to kneel down when Aslaug forbid her to, so she merely bows to the princes, “My name is Tomoe, Naniwa no Tomoe, my princes.”

Tomoe stands straight and looks at Bjorn nervously, “We call our country _Hi no Moto_ , my prince. It means The Sun’s Origin. Some may call our country Japan. It is located in the east and it is very, very far from here.”

“I have seen another woman with similar look as yours. A slave,” Aslaug said.

At the mention of the word slave, Tomoe freezes for a couple of miliseconds. She quickly recovers and smiles sadly, “I see.”

“She was terrible at her job and useless. She is gone now, though,” Aslaug said, “Tell me, after your ship wrecked, what happened?”

“I was found deserted, my queen. I work odd jobs and found travellers to travel with. I have no goal, so I let my destiny be my guide, and it has guided me here,” she lies. Tomoe has always been good at lying, so she tries her luck with it.

Aslaug eyes her for what it feels like years, until Bjorn decides to speak up, “Tomoe, have you ever been to the Mediterranean Sea? Does it exist?”

“I have, my prince. Yes, it does exist,” Tomoe smiles at him.

Bjorn’s eyes lit up at her answer, “I have a map of the Mediterranean Sea and I’d really appreciate it if you’d help me with it. Will you?”

Tomoe bows, “It’d be an honour.”

Bjorn walks down a table and motions her to come and sit with him. He also calls for Hvitserk to join them, so he does. They sit at the table discussing the piece of map Bjorn got at the raid in France. Tomoe helps them with what she can, yet no matter how small her information is, they would both lit up like she had gave them a block of gold each.

When the night has gotten too dark, Tomoe excuses herself and go back. She doesn’t return to the farmer’s house, of course. She has been staying at a cabin quite far from the city, renting it for a few months from a man in the city. Tomoe almost forget to ask for the _naginata_ in exchange for her knowledge regarding Mediterranean Sea. Bjorn ensures her that it’ll be hers if she keeps helping him, and she agrees.

 

.

.

.

 

A lot of things happened the week after. King Ragnar came back after a long time, yelling to his sons to fight and kill him. Then he, all of the sudden asked if they would come with him to England to go on a raid. They all refused; all, except Ivar.

Kattegat is now crowded by other Vikings from other places. They gather and feast at the great hall, talking about going to a place they think is but a fairytale.

Tomoe arrives late to the feast. She has just finished sewing a special _kimono_ for the feast. The design of her _kimono_ is of aristocrats’, and it’s actually forbidden for commoners like Tomoe to be wearing such _kimono_. But nobody would knows here, and Tomoe is free to wear whatever she’d like.

She appears to the feast in her twelve-layered red kimono with gold _tarikubi_ collar and sleeves’ edge at the top layer. Every layer is shorter than the previous to make sure that the layer underneath seen. She wears a skirt over her kimono rather than a _hakama_ pants as she usually does, it was a brighter red than her kimono. Her _mo_ is the colour of the soil while her sash is the colour of her hair, darker than the ink. She lets her hair down completely, letting her straight hair falls just above her rear.

For a moment, the crowd goes silent at her arrival. Everyone is wearing their best fur coat and leather, and there she is, a small girl with her silk and cotton _kimono_ , standing by the door nervously.

“Tomoe!” Calls Hvitserk at one of the tables.

Tomoe turns to see him motioning her to join him and his brothers. She walks towards the brother with a little skip and the crowd starts talking and singing once more.

“You look beautiful tonight, Tomoe,” said Ubbe as Tomoe sits down by Hvitserk and Ivar.

“Thank you, Prince Ubbe. You look handsome as well,” She replies shyly, “And so are your brothers.”

They cheer to that, handing a glass of ale to Tomoe.

“Tomoe,”

At the voice of Queen Aslaug, Tomoe stands up and bows at her. She can hear the brothers chuckle at her behaviour.

“Bjorn calls for you,” Said Queen Aslaug, taking Tomoe’s abandoned seat and places a hand on Ivar’s shoulder.

Tomoe thanks the queen and heads to look for Bjorn. Tomoe is arguably the shortest one in the room, and even though everybody towers over her, she can spot Bjorn, being one of the tallest person in the room.

“Bjorn,” She calls and Bjorn turns, “You call?”

“Yes, yes, come, I have some people you need to meet!” Bjorn leads her to a light blond haired woman.

“Mother, Astrid, meet Tomoe, our map reader!” Announces Bjorn proudly, “Tomoe, meet my mother, Earl Ingstad, and her companion, Astrid!”

Tomoe bows to the two, “I am Naniwa no Tomoe, it is a great honour to meet the both of you.”

Tomoe rises to see Earl Ingstad smiling at her with an amused look. She’s used to people not being used to her culture by now, so she smiles back at her shyly.

Earl Ingstad reaches for her face and strokes her cheek gently, “You’re very young. How old are you?”

“I am to turn 16 this year, milady.”

At her answer, the three of them—yes, Bjorn included—look taken aback. Then their eyes trace her every feature, her small yet rounded dark eyes, her soft cheek that still has some baby fat in them, her long and straight black hair darker than the coal, and yet, although she stands barely taller than Earl Ingstad’s shoulder, she emits a strong aura of pride and dignity around her.

“Forgive me, I had thought you’re way younger than that,” Earl Ingstad finally says, chuckling.

“It’s fine, milady,” Tomoe chuckles, “Afterall, it took me a couple of years to realise that my people age slower than people from other countries I have been to.”

“The people here too?” Asks Astrid, amused.

“Oh, _especially_ here,” Tomoe smirks, “People grows really tall here, it is difficult for me to see their faces, so I just assume that they look older as they are closer to the sun.”

They laugh and Bjorn tries to ruffle her hair, but she catches his hand and dodges to the side. Bjorn comments on her strong grip and her reflex, then leads her to meet King Harald and his brother, as well as Floki and Helga who sit at the table in front of the Ragnarsons.

Like Earl Ingstad, King Harald asks for her age and the four show the same shocked look as they hear her answer. This time when Tomoe repeats her joke, the Ragnarson brothers laugh along with them, raising their glass to her joke.

“Thank the gods for Ivar then, am I right?” Sigurd adds, and the two tables grow tense as Ivar glares at him.

Tomoe looks at the two brothers and clears her throat, “Thank the gods, indeed, Prince Sigurd. For granting me an easier access to admire Prince Ivar’s handsome face,” she smiles at the dark haired prince politely.

Hvitserk whistles at the two, and Tomoe covers half of her face with her huge sleeve, embarrassed. Sure, she had said that to lighten up the atmosphere around them, but it was improper of her to blatantly say such a thing to a prince, not to mention in front of his family. Others, however, laugh and cheer at her, refilling her cup with ale which she downs immediately.

“Bjorn!” Calls King Harald, “The map reader will come with us, yes?”

Bjorn looks at Tomoe, then back at Harald, “Only if she wants to.”

“Why of course she must! For all we know, she could be someone Loki sent to us, she could be tricking us all along!” Harald said, eyeing the small girl, and the crowd’s talks dies down.

Tomoe looks at Bjorn with a silent plea for help, but Bjorn looks back at her as if saying there is nothing he can do for her. Tomoe sighs.

“I will go, if you want me to,” Tomoe said, and the crowd cheers, “But first, I want my _naginata_ back.”

The cheers died a little, with people whispering. Bjorn, however, walks up to retrieve the _naginata_ and hands it to Tomoe. Tomoe accepts it, and upon holding it in her hands, she is so very close to tears. Unable to speak, Tomoe bows deeply to Bjorn and excuses herself to pack her belongings.

.  
.  
.

Back at her cabin, Tomoe spends most of the times not packing, but cleaning the _naginata_ carefully, slowly, almost religiously. After she packs whatever clothes she thinks she’ll need, she puts on her training clothes she had sewed herself and walks outside to train.

It has been three years since Tomoe had last hold her _naginata_ but although she’s a little rusty, it seems like her body remembers. Tomoe is having so much fun swinging her _naginata_ around, she doesn’t even realise that the night has almost passed.

“That’s a weird weapon you have,” Said someone behind her, “Wait, I take back my words; You’re weird,” Tomoe recognises that voice.

Tomoe turns around to see Ivar on his belly, looking at her with an unreadable stare. Tomoe sits down in front of him so as not to be rude.

“I have always been the weird one, Prince Ivar,” Tomoe smiles.

“Meaning?”

Tomoe shakes her head, “You don’t see a lot of people like me around here, yes? So what I meant is, of course I have always been the weird one.”

“You’re small. Like, sure, most people look small beside Bjorn, but I think you’re smaller than a nine years old,” Ivar grins, “Your face too. Like a child.”

“Like I had said, my people ages slower than yours,” Tomoe says, teasing, “In my eyes, you are the ones who look older than you should.”

Ivar rolls his eyes, “With that body of yours, I don’t think you can even defeat Sigurd in his weakest state, and he is very, very weak to begin with.”

 “Are you mocking me or worried about me, my prince?” Tomoe laughs, “Either way, it’s fine. Should I die, I’d rather die in battle than other scenarios.”

“Oh?” Ivar raised his eyebrows, “Why? So you would go to Valhalla?”

“No, we don’t have Valhalla in our belief. What we do have is the warrior’s way of life.”

“Warrior’s way of life? I thought you were a scholar?”

Tomoe smiled sadly at Ivar, the rude yet the most intelligent of Ragnarsons. Ivar would insult and spat rude words at her, and in defense, Tomoe would tell him about the custom of her country to, in a way, telling him that what she’s doing is normal. Ivar would then ask her to elaborate. After knowing his “strategy”, Tomoe realises Ivar is merely curious, but he doesn’t know how to ask nicely. Or maybe he just doesn’t want to. She’s not sure.

“I wanted to be a warrior before a scholar, but my father forbid me to. My brother taught me how to fight and act like a warrior, though.”

“Define “Warrior”,” asked Ivar, shifting to sit down, leaning on a tree behind him.

“In my country, there are many types of warrior. At the top of them all, would be a _samurai_. My brother was one of them,” Tomoe says proudly, “Woman can be one too. Though they’re called _onna-bugeisha_ which basically just means a female warrior. _Samurai_ must serve a master, otherwise they’re called _rounin,”_

“Most people started from being a regular _ashigaru_ , then climbs up the positions until a lord notices them and “crown” them as a _samurai_. Some, though, can become a _samurai_ instantly, had they graduated from a prestigious school and a lord employs them as _samurai,_ my brother became a _samurai_ in this way,”

 “The main weapon of a _samurai_ is a bow and arrow. They would draw them first, then change their weapon to their choice of blade when the enemy has gotten close. Man usually go for a _katana,_ while woman a _naginata._ There are many other weapons to choose from, though. My brother uses an _oodachi_ , a great sword,”

“ _Samurai_ ’s job is to protect their master no matter the cost, not even their life. In fact, it is a great honour to die for the sake of their master. They are loyal to their master and their family.”

Ivar nods in approval to her explanation, “Can _you_ be a _samurai?_ Or whatever you call the woman one is.”

“Yes, like I said, a woman can be an _onna-bugeisha_ the same way as a man does. We just have to either climb up the posit—“

“No. No. I mean with the way you are now,” Ivar interrupts, “Without climbing positions or going to a school. Just by being noticed by a lord. Or,” he leans forward, “A prince.”

Tomoe’s jaw drops. She stared at Ivar, not believing the implication of his question. She clears her throat and takes a deep breath,

“Yes, it is possible, Prince Ivar.”

Ivar grins at her, “If I “crown” you as a _samurai_ , does that mean you’ll serve me? Does that mean you’ll be loyal to me?”

Tomoe swallows her saliva, “Yes,” she says, barely a whisper.

“Great! Then from now on, you are an on-uhh?”

“ _Onna-bugeisha,”_

“Yes. That. There! Now you’ll be loyal to me,  yes?” Ivar laughs and claps his hands.

“Yes—No—I mean, sure it will mean so—but it’s not that simple—I mean, but why? You have never even see me fight!” Tomoe all but protests.

“I know how you _really_ came here,” Ivar grins.

Tomoe is instantly on her feet, grabbing her _naginata,_ prepared to fight.

“Ssh, ssh, ssh, it’s okay. It’s fine. I won’t tell anyone,” he says, gesturing her to calm down, “But only if you agree to be a warrior of mine.”

Tomoe looks around, “But why?”

“That farmer who bought you? He was garbage. However, he was a Viking. Used to go to raids with my father, he did. I know he’s strong, and yet, he had never been seen anymore the day after he bought you. Three days later, ta-dah, you’re in the great hall with fine clothes. Do you think I wouldn’t know what you did to him? Hm?” Ivar mocks.

“Aren’t you going to have me killed for justice?”

“At first, yes,” Ivar nods, “But then you showed yourself to be useful to Bjorn, so I decided not to.”

Tomoe lowers her naginata, “But I can not go with you to England. I have promised Bjorn.”

“Of course, you should go with Bjorn. But when you return, you’ll be mine, yes?” Ivar grins slyly.

Tomoe kneels before Ivar, “I will,” Tomoe clears her throat, “But I will pledge my loyalty to you once I’ve return. Would that be acceptable?”

Ivar nods.

“Very well,” Tomoe says.

And Tomoe rises and excuses herself to buy some supplies for her journey, “One more thing, Prince Ivar. A warrior, once announced as one, should be given a new name with a surname. Once I have pledged my loyalty to you, I will no longer be called Tomoe, but the name you will give to me,” then she left.

Ivar stares at her, and smirks, “There will be a sacrifice rituals in the town this evening. Be sure to come!” He calls.

Tomoe turns around to bow at him before continuing to walk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Kimono is a layered traditional Japanese attire, in this fic, however, I choose to describe them as how it is worn in Nara Period, rather than the Edo(modern) ones.  
> * Hakama is a loose traditional pants.  
> * Tarikubi collar means a crossed kimono collar.  
> * Mo is an apron-like piece clothing.  
> * Dogeza is a kneeling position where the person doing it bows deeply their head would sometimes touch the floor.  
> * Nobles would sit behind a bamboo curtain when talking to a commoner, hence Tomoe's discomfort upon looking at Ragnar's family's faces.  
> * Hi no Moto is the old name of Japan. It literally means, "Where Sun Originates From".  
> * Aristocrats or nobles wear different design of clothing to commoners, and commoners aren't allowed to wear the same design as theirs.


	3. Leaving Kattegat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are you still unsure on how Tomoe and Ienari are pronounced?  
> \- Tomoe : Toe-mo-eh  
> \- Ienari : Ee-yea-na-ree
> 
> By the way, I know that the update is pretty fast right now, but I can't say for sure for the future. I'm trying to post as much as I can while the idea is flowing.

“What do you mean you don’t need a shield?” Bjorn asks, baffled by Tomoe’s statement as she refuses to buy a shield. He spotted her during his walk in the market, and decided to tag along.

“Well, my weapon is wielded with both hands,” Tomoe smiles, “I have my hands full, Bjorn. But thank you,” Bjorn had ask her to stop calling him “prince”, so she has been trying to get used to calling him only by his name.

“But it doesn’t make any sense! So they just let themselves got shot by arrows?” Bjorn asks.

“I said we don’t carry shield, but I never said anything about not using one,” Tomoe says, smiling at the even more confused Bjorn. She chuckles, “We wear them.”

Tomoe laughs at the even more confused—if that’s even possible—Bjorn. Then she turns to the blacksmith and describes to him what _sode_ is like, pays for it, then walks outside to buy other stuff while waiting for her _sode_ to be made. Bjorn follows closely from behind.

“But what you asked was only for your shoulder. What if the arrow comes for your chest or your body or your head?” Asks Bjorn, still confused.

“Well, we wear similar ones as the one I just asked to the blacksmith all over our body. However, Bjorn, I can’t just spend all of my money like that,” Tomoe grins, “Perhaps another time you’ll see me in full armour.”

Bjorn makes a sound of understanding “Ah,” then nods. He leads her to an armour shop, well, Vikings’ armour shop, which means most of the armours are made with leather with very few metal, unlike Japanese ones.

Tomoe cringes, “You’re right, Bjorn. Maybe using a two-handed weapon is a bad idea.”

.

.

.

The sacrifice ritual is something that Tomoe had seen before when she lives with her previous master in Spain. The moslems were sacrificing goats and other animals to their God in a special day they called, “Eid Adha”. But it was very different than the sacrifice ritual the Vikings are doing now.

Tomoe watches silently by Bjorn’s side, watching as the ritual goes on. She accepts the blood splatter in silence, and watches as the others do too. She spots Ivar as he dips his fingers in the blood and draws with the blood on his face. Tomoe decides to look away as Ivar lift the bowl to drink the blood, she chooses to walk back to her cabin.

“Lords,” She says to Bjorn and King Harald, “May I be excused? I have things I still haven’t prepared for the journey tomorrow.”

They nod, and Tomoe bows before turning and walking. She can feel someone eyeing her, and she knows it’s Ivar.

.

.

.

Back in her cabin, Tomoe ties her hair a little bit taller than her usual low ponytail. She grabs her armour and _sode_ , and tries them on. She looks at the reflective metal by the wash basin and smiles at how strong she looks. She finishes the last couple stitches of her _kote_ and put them on, pleased with how fit and comfortable her gauntlet is.

She takes them all off and holds her sleeves with a piece of long ribbon that she ties on her back and reaches for the sharpening stone, a bowl of water, and her _naginata._ She wets the stone and waits.

“It is improper to visit a maiden’s room this late, Prince Ivar,” she says, turning around, “Let alone sneaking into one.”

Ivar awkwardly opens the cabin’s door, looking mildly confused at her. He crawls inside anyway, and close the door behind him. Tomoe, who is sitting on the floor, bows to him and he nods in reply.

“I can hear you coming,” Tomoe explains without Ivar asking her. She gets up to boil some water and puts some tea inside the pot, “Please, make yourself at home.”

“What are you boiling?” Ivar asks, eyeing her suspiciously.

“Tea,” Tomoe replies, walking back to the sharpening stone. She takes her _naginata_ and disassemble it. She eyes Ivar at the corner of her eyes, “What brings you here, Prince Ivar?”

Ivar, who has been looking at what she’s doing with curious gaze snaps back to reality and clears his throat, “Can you refuse a lord’s will to announce you as their warrior?”

She pauses sharpening the _naginata_ ’s blade, gets up and fills two glasses with tea, giving Ivar one of them, “I can if I want.”

“Why didn’t you refuse me, then?” Ivar asks, sipping the hot tea.

“Do you want me to?” Asks Tomoe back as she keeps sharpening the blade.

“I ask first,” Ivar says, annoyed.

Tomoe smiles, eyes never leaving the blade, “Maybe because I think you are fit to be my master.”

“Me?” Ivar scoffs, “A cripple like me?”

“Prince Ivar,” Ivar lifts his head to see Tomoe no longer sharpens her blade, she is looking straight at him, “You are a very intelligent man, my prince. I haven’t seen it for myself, but your brothers had talked about your strength.”

Tomoe puts down the blade and shifts closer to Ivar, “If you can’t walk, my prince, let me be your legs; where you can’t see, let me be your eyes; where you can’t reach, let me be your arms and blade. It is my duty to serve you with all my being for I, Naniwa no Tomoe, have promised to pledge my loyalty to you when I’ve returned from Mediterranean Sea.”

Hearing her words, Ivar’s jaws dropped open. Not knowing what to say, he nods, then he downs his tea, ignoring the hot burn as the hot tea reaches his throat.

“Let me stay the night here,” says Ivar.

Tomoe looks at the young man before her. They are of the same age, yet he would sometimes look so strong like he can face any obstacles and fight every single one in his way, and sometimes he would seem so frail, like a child. She sometimes wonder if they are both the same person, or there are actually two souls residing in that body.

“Very well, I shall sleep on the floor,” Tomoe bows, before going back to reassemble her _naginata._

Ivar grunts as he lifts himself on the bed, “No, sleep here with me.”

“I... No, I can not. That would be improper,” Tomoe bows.

“Why do you care so much about what’s proper and what’s not? Come here, I won’t do anything, I promise!” Ivar says, irritated.

“You have to understand, Prince Ivar, I’m not used to such—thing. It isn’t in our custom.”

“Your custom. Not mine. In _my_ custom, people listen to the royal family. I happen to be a prince, and _you_ are in _my_ kingdom, are you not?”

Tomoe hesitates for a moment, “I... yes.”

“Good!” Ivar says, patting the space beside him, “Come!”

Tomoe bites her lower lip, not knowing what to do. He does have a point. After all, she is no longer in Japan and in this place, Ivar _is_ a prince. She looks at Ivar who looks more and more impatient the longer she hesitates. In the end, Tomoe gives up. She strips down her _hakama_ and her _kimono_  until only last layer of it remains, and joins Ivar on the bed shyly.

It really doesn’t help her restlessness that Ivar makes no attempt to hide his stare on Tomoe. She had shift to avoid Ivar’s stare, but she can still feel his gaze on her back.

“Please sleep, Prince Ivar,” she whispers.

“I can’t,” Ivar whispers back at her. Ivar shifts closer to Tomoe, “Will you help me?”

Tomoe shifts closer to the edge of the bed, “If it is within my ability.”

“Let me sleep in your arms. I won’t do anything. Just,” Ivar takes a deep breath, “Just hold me to sleep.”

Immediately, Tomoe sits up, she turns to Ivar with sad eyes, “Forgive me, my prince.”

Ivar stares at her in confusion, until Tomoe walks away from the bed and grabs her fur coat. She spreads it on the floor and lies on it. Then, she takes some of her thick _kimonos_ and uses them as blanket. He stares at her disappointedly. He wants to be mad so bad, but the moment Tomoe turns to wish him good night with such sad eyes, he just can’t.

So Ivar closes his eyes for a very long time. He can hear Tomoe falling asleep on the floor, and he listens to Tomoe’s soft and steady breathing until he falls asleep.

.

.

.

When Tomoe woke up, all she can hear is Ivar’s soft snore. The sun has yet to come out, so she silently get dressed and make some breakfast with fish and her precious rice. It’s hard to find rice here, in Kattegat since the soil and the weather isn’t ideal. Tomoe bought them for expensive price from a foreign merchant in the market, and even so, the rice type is different from the rice she has back home. It’s drier and hard to pick up with her chopsticks—though she still uses her chopsticks anyway.

The smell of fish being grilled mixed with _miso_ soup seems to wakes Ivar up. He opens his eyes slowly, looking at the steaming teapot and Tomoe, who is stirring the content of a steaming wooden container.

“Good morning, Prince Ivar,” Tomoe greets and Ivar nods, “Are you staying for breakfast?”

Ivar rises, sitting on the bed and yawns, “What’s for breakfast?”

“Humble commoner food from Japan,” Tomoe smiles, “Some rice, _miso_ soup, and grilled fish. Oh, and some tea, unless you’d rather have some ale instead?”

Ivar joins her on the floor, “Anything is fine,” and he accepts a glass of tea from Tomoe, “These are humble? Aren’t these expensive?”

Tomoe laughs, “Not in my country, it’s not. But today I will sail to a far place. I’m going to eat salt preserved food for days on a rocking ship, so I thought, eh, why not treat myself.”

Ivar nods, shrugging. Tomoe hands him a tray with a steaming bowl of rice and a bowl of _miso_ soup, and chuckles at his face as he frowns at the bowl of soup with fermented soybeans in it.

“Oh, don’t judge it by how it looks,” she hands him a spoon, “and if you don’t like it, I’m more than happy to eat it,” she adds as she picks up a pair of chopsticks for herself.

Tomoe removes the fishes from the fire and places it on rectangular plates, handing one to Ivar. She looks at Ivar as he stares at her, waiting for her to demonstrate to him how to eat the foreign food, so Tomoe starts eating by slurping her _miso_ straight from the bowl. Then, she picks up some rice with her chopsticks, then the fish. But still, Ivar doesn’t start eating.

“ _That_ is your eating utensils?” Asks Ivar, raising his eyebrows.

“ _That_ is called o _hashi—_ chopsticks. Would you like to try using them?” Tomoe asks, picking up a pair of her other chopsticks, offering them to Ivar.

Ivar reluctantly accepts them, then he tries to copy Tomoe’s way of handling it, confusion written clearly in his face. Tomoe has to bite her cheeks to prevent herself from laughing. She moves to sit beside Ivar and explains it to him.

“See, hold one of them with your middle finger and your thumb. Then place the other one between your middle and index finger, yes that’s correct. Now, use your index finger to move it up and down, to pick up the food, like this see?”

But Ivar tries to pick some rice up like Tomoe, but while Tomoe makes it look so easy, the rice falls over and over again. Tomoe smiles, and he knows that Tomoe tries very hard on not laughing at his failed attempts. As much as he thinks it’s funny himself, he’s frustated. So he throws the chopsticks accross the room, making Tomoe laughs gleefully.

“That thing is bullshit!” Ivar exclaims, making Tomoe laughs even harder.

Tomoe picks up the chopsticks Ivar had thrown, and hands it back to him, “Practice and patience, Prince Ivar. Practice and patience,” she grins, “You can have them, so you can impress me with it when I’ve returned.”

“Why would I want to impress you, woman?” But he accepts it anyway. He puts it inside his pockets and picks up his spoon back.

They proceed to eat in silence, except for the time Ivar comments that the _miso_ doesn’t taste as bad as it looks before wolfing down the food. He also stays to watch Tomoe making rice balls with leftover rice and salt. Tomoe hands a couple to him wrapped in a leaf,

“Share it with your father, maybe?” she said, knowing that he’s going to spend the day with his father. He accepts it, nodding in gratitude.

When she’s done, the sky has gotten a lot brighter, and she knows she has to go to the port.

“Are you going to see us off?” She asked.

“No, I’m going somewhere else.”

“I see. Well, this is it then!” She ties her hair to a low ponytail and grins, “The next time we meet, you’re going to be my master,”

Ivar watches her silently as she kneels in front of him and bows deeply, excusing herself to go and wishing him a safe journey of his own. Ivar nods, and they walk outside her cabin. Tomoe bows to him before going to the port.

.

.

.

At the port, Bjorn is already waiting for Tomoe. He helps her lift her stuff to the ship, then upon noticing his family, he walks towards them to say goodbye.

Tomoe looks around her, at people saying their goodbyes to their loved ones. She, on the other hand, plays with the fur of her coat. Floki is talking about something to his wife, Helga, and although she’d love to talk to them, she doesn’t know what to talk about, so she chooses not to talk to them.

“Tomoe,” Someone calls from behind, and she turns to see Earl Ingstad. Tomoe bows to her and she smiles, “You’re very well-behaved, you know that?” Tomoe smiles shyly at her.

She hands something to her, and Tomoe accepts it. It’s a bracelet with a piece of small wood with a rune carved on it. She thanks the Earl, wear it, then stares at it, not knowing what it means.

“It means, “Journey”,” the Earl explains, “For good luck.”

“Thank you, Earl Ingstad. I will treasure it,” Tomoe says, bowing politely to her as she leaves.

Tomoe turns around to see Helga inspecting her _sode_ , tracing the small metals attached to the huge leather shoulder protector and the _mitsudomoe_ symbol on it. Tomoe walks closer to her.

“We call them _sode_ ,” Tomoe explains, smiling at Helga as she lifts her head to meet Tomoe’s gaze. She sits beside her and picks up one of the _sode_ , “Most of our weapons are two-handed sword, and we have no room to carry a shield. So, we wear them instead. It’s supposed to be, like, for the whole body. But I don’t have the budget for that, so,” Tomoe grins.

Helga smiles, “That is very fascinating. But won’t it be heavy to wear them all?”

Tomoe shrugs, “Yeah, the total weight of the whole armour set is,” she tries to remember Ienari’s words, internally converting it to weight unit Helga would understand, “Around 60 pounds?”

Helga gasps, leaning closer to Tomoe, “That’s probably half of your weight! How do you manage to carry it around?”

Tomoe winces, “Maximum effort?” they laugh, “No, but, that’s basically it. Practice and patience.”

“And what is that?” Helga asks, pointing at the _mitsudomoe_ symbol at the bottom of the _sode,_ “It’s also in your dagger sheath.”

“That’s just—that’s just how I mark something as mine,” Tomoe shakes her head, then points at one of the shapes that looks like a comma, “It’s made of three of this right? Well, this symbol by itself is called “ _Tomoe_ ” and the three of them combined like this is called _“Mitsudomoe,_ Three  _Tomoe"_  .”

 _It’s also associated with the God of War,_ Tomoe adds internally. Something tells Tomoe it isn’t wise to talk about Gods with a religious group of people. She even hides her _kamidana_ above her ceiling in her cabin so it won’t be seen by anyone.

“That’s beautiful,” Helga says, tracing the symbol, “Your know, we used to have a daughter. Had she survived the fever, she’d be just about your age.”

“Helga!” warns Floki behind her. He has been listening to the two in silence.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Helga,” Tomoe says softly, “She may be gone, Helga. But she will never really died as long as she lives within you.”

Helga smiles and looks at her in the eye, she then pulls her into a hug, surprising Tomoe. Not knowing what to do, Tomoe pats her hands awkwardly on Helga’s back.

“Thank you, Tomoe,” says Helga as she lets go of her, and leaves to join her husband.

The ship departs not long after, and Tomoe sits at the end of the ship with Hvitserk. Hvitserk had given her a small block of wood, asking her to chisel with him to pass the time. They would sometimes ask Floki, who obviously can do it way better than them.

“What are you making, girl?” Asks Floki.

“A fox maybe?” Tomoe replies.

“Why fox?” Hvitserk asks as he keeps chiseling his own block of woods.

Tomoe grins, “Because they have the same face as my brother!”

 The three of them laugh, and Tomoe asks Hvitserk the same question back at him. He answers with Odin the Allfather. Out of curiosity, she asks them to tell her more about their Gods, in which Floki turns into a full teacher mode and begins telling her the curious story of their Gods.

“Your ship wrecked and here you are,” Hvitserk says at noon when Floki takes a break during his story to talk to Bjorn and Helga.

“Yes. And I’m glad to be here,” Tomoe says, smiling. Hvitserk smiles back at her.

“What if your brother is alive somewhere? Somewhere unexpected,” Hvitserk asks, looking at her with an unreadable look, “You said your brother is a warrior, a high-ranking one too. So what if he had become a warrior for our enemy? What then? What are you going to do?”

Tomoe looks down, suddenly her shoes are the most interesting to look at, “I’ll talk to him. He will come, I’m sure.”

“What if he lives a better life than the one we have? Won’t you come to his side instead?”

Tomoe shakes her head, “No.”

“But why?”

“Because I’ve promised someone back in Kattegat that I will return.”

Hvitserk raises his eyebrows, “Who?”

Tomoe leans to the mountain of bags behind her. Closing her eyes, she replies, “Ivar.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Sode (so-deh) is a large rectangular shoulder/upper-arm protector made of leather and small pieces of metals attached neatly the entire sode.  
> * Kote (Ko-teh)is a gauntlet made of padded leather, making it thick.  
> * Kimono is often used as blanket, this is actually pretty normal.  
> * Miso is made with salt and fungus-fermented soybeans. Miso in the modern times is grounded, but back in the day, it's not. So it looks weird and sticky.  
> * Miso soup is made with miso, konbu(some kind of kelp), and fish broth.  
> * Tomoe is a symbol resembling a comma, and is a very common symbol in Shinto. Mitsudomoe, as mentioned, represents life: Man, Earth, and Sky; It's also associated with Hachiman, The God of War, making it the symbol of samurai.  
> * Kamidana is a shelf for Shinto worship and offering. It's usually hung at at home at a high place on the wall.


	4. Journey and Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! If you've read this fic until this chapter, I just want to say that I love you. 
> 
>  
> 
> This chapter should be called, "Ivar and Tomoe knows that they like each other but refuse to admit it".  
> Anyway this is pretty long chapter, so be prepared.
> 
> Once again, thank you for reading!

“Is it true, then?” Hvitserk smirks at Tomoe.

Tomoe tilts her head, “Is what true?”

“You and Ivar are, you know,” Hvitserk winks.

Tomoe laughs, shaking her head, “I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s not true.”

Hvitserk pats Tomoe’s back, “Oh, it’s alright,” he  moves closer to whisper, “I know Ivar stayed over your cabin last night.

“That one is true,” Tomoe says, rolling her eyes, “But nothing happens.”

Hvitserk scoffs, “Yeah, right.”

“I literally slept on the floor!”

“Tomoe, I like both of you and all, but I really don’t need to know,” Hvitserk rolls his eyes, his smirk grows larger as Tomoe slaps his arm.

Tomoe walks over to Bjorn, she asks about his uncle who now rules in Normandy. What they’re going to talk about and how they’re going to say it, what she can do to help, what to and not to do, and she asks about what to do in a worst case scenario.

Bjorn answers her questions patiently, saying only what he had planned, and asks for Tomoe’s suggestions on what he hadn’t. Floki and Hvitserk join them later on, adding more and more sensible plan on how to encounter Rollo.

When the sun goes down, Tomoe sits still as she lets Helga plays with her hair, braiding her hair to make them more manageable since her long, ponytailed her keeps making a mess everytime a strong breeze of wind hits it. She asks Helga to teach her how to braid, so Helga excitedly teaches her. They started with something basic, and slowly moving up until Helga asks Tomoe to try to recreate Hvitserk’s braids. In which, of course, she fails over and over again.

.

.

.

A lot happened in Frankia. They met Rollo, he introduced his family to the group, and in turn, Bjorn introduced Tomoe, pointing the Mediterranean Sea and announced that he was heading there with Tomoe’s help. Rollo locked all of them up in a cell for quite some time, and King Harald and his brother taunted Bjorn and Tomoe, calling her Loki-sent, in which neither of them responded to.

Bjorn was called not long after, and a few moments later, they were released and Rollo joined the raiding party. Although he was tied up and drowned first before finally being accepted—well, kind of—by the party. They continued their journey in somewhat an awkward peace.

.

.

.

Hvitserk realises it’s his first time seeing Tomoe fights when they arrive in Spain. It’s also his first time seeing the foreign weapon that has been hung for display in the great hall for years actually being used.

He quickly realises that Tomoe refrains from clashing the blade with the enemy’s blade and she would rather maneuver the polearm weapon in such a way to dodge the enemy’s swing and throws them off-balance so she can make a clean cut, beheading her enemies. There is beauty to it, for in every full swing she does, someone loses their life.

He has to admit that he’s thankful to be in the same side as hers.

Tomoe follows him closely from behind as they break into the harem. The first guard shows up and Tomoe steps in front of Bjorn and the guard. She easily knocks the dagger off the guard’s finger by kicking it and swings her _naginata_ , cutting his head off. It impress the Vikings to see a petite girl so strong, and with that, Tomoe knows she has earned their trust.

When the door opens to reveal a room full of beautiful woman, Tomoe immediately knows what the Vikings are going to do. So she turns around and runs outside.

The market is quiet and Tomoe walks around, looking at the abandoned goods around the market. She spots some civillians hiding, and she looks around to make sure no one from the raiding band is there, then asks them to go in Arabic.

Tomoe spots a fan in one of the stalls and opens it, fanning herself with it, and pretends to dance with it, although she doesn’t know how to. In an instant, she feels like a little girl and enjoys herself.

She takes what she wants from the market. Small things, really. Gold trinkets, pendants, bells, and anything that reminds her of home, like a beautiful comb that probably comes from China. After that, she waits for the others to come out.

.

.

.

Tomoe spends her time helping Helga tends to Tanaruz, her adoptive child from Spain, with what little Arabic she can speak. Still, Tanaruz remains frightened. She finds a little comfort with Tomoe, but she would goes back to her frightened state when Tomoe leaves her side, so Helga would ask Tomoe to stay by their side most of the time. Which is not a problem, but she does need to walk around from time to time to dismiss her boredness but Tanaruz is too afraid to walk amongst the Vikings, so Tomoe would have to ignore Tanaruz’s frightened plea.

Like now, as she approaches Hvitserk in the ship. She asks him what Bjorn meant when he said that their father is dead at the hill close to the Mediterranean Sea, and he tells her that both of them had seen Odin.

“You saw Odin?” Asks Tomoe, “Like, Odin?”

Hvitserk nods, “Yeah, Odin the Allfather. He told us our father is killed by serpents.”

Tomoe nods, “I see.”

“You don’t believe me?” Hvitserk asks, raising his eyebrows.

“I never said that,” Tomoe smiles, “In my country, people worships many Gods, things, and spirits. The God that I worship, may not be the God you worship, and that’s fine by us,” she says loud enough to be heard in Halfdan’s ship on purpose, “In your place, Odin and all of the other Gods are your Gods, and if you want me to worship them, then I will. Afterall, different places are ruled by different Gods.”

Hvitserk smiles and nods at her answer. He chuckles at the annoyed look shown by King Harald and his brother, and pats Tomoe’s shoulder.

“Who do you worship then?” Rollo suddenly asks, “I’ve never heard of Japan, and I’ve never heard of you talking about your God.”

“I don’t know enough about Kattegat to know what God I would serve,” Tomoe smiles, “What I do know is that the sun is the same wherever I go. So for now, I’ve been praying only to the Sun Goddess, Lady Amaterasu.”

King Harald scoffs, “The sun is a man.”

“That is what you believe,” Tomoe nods, “and I respect that.”

“I wish the world behaves the same way to difference as your country,” Rollo says.

 Tomoe smiles, “They will. Hopefully when it’s older,” and she walks back to the tent to help Helga with Tanaruz.

.

.

.

They had dropped Rollo in Frankia, and upon saying his goodbye, he had turned to look at Tomoe and said, “I know that you’re a traveller, but you’ll make a fine warrior. If by any chance you want to settle down to live permanently in one place, you are free to do so in my kingdom.”

In which Tomoe silently bowed to him.

Hvitserk on the other hand, snorted at him, “Yeah, nice try. She’s Ivar’s now.”

 Tomoe grunted and rolled her eyes at Hvitserk. She knew telling Hvitserk about her promise to Ivar was a big mistake. She had to explain to the others about the promise all the way back to Kattegat and some of them who looked down on Ivar for being a cripple advised her to work for Bjorn instead, while the others warned her about Ivar’s temper advised her to be careful not to anger him.

When they reached Kattegat, the port is full with other earls and kings’ ships. Tomoe knows what they’re all for immediately—to avenge Ragnar. If it’s true that Ragnar is dead, surely the Ragnarssons have made alliances to avenge the death of their father.

The Great Hall, however, is locked from inside and alarmingly quiet. Knowing that something must be happening inside, Tomoe removes her _naginata_ ’s sheath and follows Bjorn closely from behind as he opens the door with force.

“If you kill her, you must kill me too,” says Bjorn once they see what’s happening inside.

Queen Aslaug is gone, that much Tomoe knows, and by seeing Ivar and Ubbe’s positions as they circle Lagertha, Tomoe puts the pieces together that Lagertha must have killed her. Tomoe shows herself to Ivar from her initial position which was behind Bjorn. Ivar smirks upon seeing her.

“Maybe we should,” Ivar says.

Immediately, Tomoe raises her _naginata,_ pressing the blade to Bjorn’s neck. The warriors who came with them to the hall points their blade towards Tomoe.

“Shut up,” Ubbe warns, “and Tomoe, lower your weapon.”

But Tomoe stays still, ignoring Ubbe’s order.

“We have a more important thing to do,” Bjorn continues, “We need to avenge Ragnar’s death,” he glares at Tomoe, “and that is what we’re going to do.”

Tomoe turns to Ivar for orders, and Ivar is visibly angry. Angrier than he already was. He grunts and growls, and everyone lowers their weapon. Seeing that, Tomoe naturally follows.

Ivar crawls out the hall afterwards, and Tomoe was about to follow, but Bjorn stopped her, stepping in front of her.

“Come serve me. I can make you a warrior like Ivar can. You don’t have to serve him,” He says, “I’ve seen you fight and I know your strength. Ivar doesn’t.”

Tomoe nods, “So you have,” she pushes Bjorn out of her way, “But the fact that Ivar asks me first, without having seen me fight, makes him stand out to me,” and walks away, following Ivar.

.

.

.

“Ivar?” Tomoe calls softly.

It was easy to find Ivar. Just as Tomoe thought, Ivar is sitting by his favourite spot, the hill where he and Ragnar had dug to take Ragnar’s treasures. She approaches Ivar, sitting beside him.

Ivar snorts, “I think that’s the first time you’ve ever called me without the word “Prince”.”

“Forgive me—”

“I like it,” he continues, “Call me that from now on.”

 Tomoe bows slightly.

“So how do I do it? I announce you as my warrior and give you a new name, is that it?”

Tomoe nods, “That’s it. There is supposed to be a blessing from a higher lord ruling the place, but I suppose that will not be necessary for us.”

Ivar glares, and nods, “Yeah, that won’t be needed.”

Ivar watches Tomoe silently as she crawls in front of him and kneels. It reminds him of his first time seeing her inside the great hall, kneeling to his mother humbly.

Tomoe then bows her head really low, “I pledge my loyalty to you, Ivar the Boneless, son of Ragnar Lothbrok. I swear to be your warrior, your legs and arms, your eyes, nose, mouth and ears, and most of all, your blade.”

Ivar doesn’t answer immediately. He lifts Tomoe’s face, looking at her straight in her eyes; in her dark, black eyes. She looks tired, which is to be expected from someone who has been travelling for months. He caresses along her soft cheeks to her lower lips. Surprisingly, she stays quiet. He had thought she would back away, saying that it’s improper to do so.

He glances at her, the petite girl who is barely as tall as his armpit height when he stands up. With her small stature, and her baby face, someone is bound to take her lightly. Just as they would look down on him. But they are wrong. They are very wrong. Ivar knows that both of them are strong and deadly.

Their difference is that she’s calm and collected, patient and analysing, while he’s a moving bubble of rage, all he needs is a trigger and he would blackout, letting his rage do things for him. The other day, had the blacksmith hadn’t stopped him from attacking Sigurd with an axe, Sigurd could be dead by now and that’s not good. He never wanted to kill him. Afterall, Sigurd is still his brother.

Tomoe’s presence keeps him a little bit calmer, a level lower from blowing up. When she pressed her blade on Bjorn’s neck, she had shown him his choices.

“Look at how easy your wrath takes over you,” She had said to him without saying a single word, “You want Bjorn dead? I’ll kill him for you. See this blade here? One word from you and he’d be headless. Is that what you want? Ubbe told me to stop, but I refuse to answer to him. Afterall, you’re my master, not Ubbe. Whatever happens next will be your responsibility. Think twice, Ivar. You’re smarter than this.”

Ivar shifts closer to Tomoe, he leans forward to let their foreheads touch, expecting her to back away. But she doesn’t. So he lets his eyes traces every inch of her face. Every single one of her long, downwards eyelashes, every single one of her pores, every single one of hair that falls down her face. She doesn’t look real. There is no way she is human.

“What are you?” Ivar whispers.

Tomoe shifts her gaze to their linked hand and pulls away from Ivar. She closes both of her hands around Ivar’s.

“I’m your warrior, Ivar.” 

Ivar chuckles, “I don’t believe you, Yngvildr.”

“Yngvildr?” She asks, eyes wide and shines with excitement, “Is that?”

Ivar grins at her, “That is.”

She beams at him, “Yngvildr,” she repeats, “That is a grand name.”

“You deserve it,” Ivar shrugs, “Yngvildr the Raven!” he exclaims as he lies down on the grass.

“Raven? Why raven?” She chuckles, lying beside Ivar.

“Because I do not believe that you’re human,” Ivar says and Tomoe laughs. He looks down to see the still laughing Tomoe, “Your black hair, your black eyes, your black armour. You must be one of Odin’s raven.”

“But I don’t serve Odin,” Tomoe chuckles, “I serve you.”

“Sounds like what Odin’s raven in disguise would say,” Ivar teases and Tomoe laughs, slapping his chest playfully.

Ivar flips over, arms propping his body from falling on top of Tomoe, “However you will only use that name to your enemy. Your name represent the true you, and I will keep using it, and so will all of our allies. However, upon announcing yourself to the enemy, announce your warrior name to them. Scare them with it, with the side you only show to your enemy. But show your true self to us; to me. So I know that your loyalty is true.”

Tomoe smiles, she slips away from Ivar’s lock and kneels to him, bowing her head lowly, “Understood, milord.”

.

.

.

Ivar invites Tomoe to stay over the Ragnarssons’ cabin that night. Tomoe tells them stories about what had happened during the journey, with Hvitserk adding into the stories from time to time. She talks about Floki telling her stories of the Gods, Spain, and the Mediterranean Sea. Hvitserk joins her story-telling, telling his brothers about beautiful woman in the harem and tells them about Tomoe’s interesting techniques and how strong and fast she is in the battle. She was the talk of all of the warriors, he says, and the room cheers.

In turn, Ivar tells her what had happened in England and in Kattegat. He told her about what Ragnar had said to him, what he played with Alfred, the son of his father’s Christian pet, Athelstan. Tomoe asks him to tell her stories about Athelstan, but he was so little, he doesn’t remember much of him, except that Floki had killed him because the Gods told him to do so for Ragnar’s sake. However, because Ragnar loved him so much, he was furious to him.

Ivar seems to be quiet after he’s done with his story, like he’s thinking about a lot of stuff he doesn’t want to tell her. But guessing from his glassy eyes, Tomoe guesses that he’s thinking about his dead parents.

“My brother was born with the name Takechiyo,” Tomoe starts, gaining attention from the brothers, “when he became a _samurai_ his master named him Ienari, with a family name called Isshi. If he’s still alive right now, he would be just a little bit younger than Bjorn,”

“He became a _samurai_ when he was around my age, and since then fame came to him almost far too quickly. By the time he was 20, he became one of the lord’s trusted bodyguard, then his ambassador, and lastly, his strategist,”

“His favourite strategy was to play around with his enemies. Sometimes he would even arrange it in such a way that the whole situation would look like a children’s game,”

“In one of his games,” Tomoe nods, “He was asked to assassinate a leader of a rebellion faction of some sort. Once he had reached the room of his target, he told him that he would give him a chance to escape, as long as they have reached the bridge before the song ends. In the end, well, he killed them,”

Tomoe smiles at the memory, “One of his subordinates told everyone that once he had killed them, he laughed so loudly, the river rippled from his voice. Then they began calling him a fox behind his back for his tricks and deceives. Which, by the way, was not a good thing,”

“But instead of denying the rumors,” Tomoe snorts, “In the next war that happened, he showed up wearing a fox-shaped war mask. He told me that the name was nice because it would inflict fear to his enemies. But it also inflict a great deal of fear from inside of his own army, and although they know what he had always did was solely for the sake of the clan, they still hate him,”

Tomoe plays with her comb, fiddling it, “He knows that probably everyone but the lord hated him. The lord found it funny that he played his part and would always protect him, like when a protest broke and some people put bounty over his head,”

“He would be walking alongside me in the market, then some people would suddenly start chasing us, but instead of killing them, he would grab my hand and run, laughing really loudly as we head to the palace, seeking sanctuary,”

“I don’t know if he survived,” Tomoe sighs, forcing a smile, “But if he does and if like Hvitserk had suggested he works for our enemies, I would try to talk to him, I would try to protect him until I can be sure that he will not, by any means, join our side,”

“But if he’s dead, then, well,” Tomoe pauses, “Well, now that I am a warrior like he was, I will do my duties for both of our sake,” she grins to Ivar, “Although I’m a raven and not a fox.”

Ubbe nods, “You’re coming to England with us, then?”

“Where my master asks me to go, I will go,” she says, waiting for Ivar to give her order.

“Of course you’re coming,” Ivar snorts, “Why would I ask one of the strongest warriors in Kattegat to stay? Hm?”

Tomoe bows slightly, “Understood.”

.

.

.

In the morning, Tomoe follows the brothers to the training ground. Once there, Tomoe ties her sheath to her _naginata_ so the blade won’t hurt them as they spar. Ivar complains, taunting her that she will never be able to hurt them anyway, but Tomoe shrugs and ties it even stronger.

The brother observes as she spars with Sigurd. Like mentioned by Hvitserk, she relies on footwork and swings the polearm weapon only when she’s sure that the swing would kill. In a few seconds, Sigurd falls to his knees with a sheathed _naginata_ blade pressing on his neck. It was so quick, it was hard to be sure what she had done.

Ubbe walks forward afterwards, taunting her with flickers of his sword. Tomoe, on the other hand, rolls her eyes and raises her naginata. She charges with a frightening yell, surprising Ubbe, making him loses his stance. He quickly recovers and raises his sword to block, but seeing his block, Tomoe steps sideways and raises her _naginata_ to make rooms for her to kick Ubbe’s hand. When he’s thrown off balance, she swings her weapon and stops right when it touches the back of Ubbe’s neck.

Hvitserk laughs at his brother, and pats Tomoe’s back. She looks at the two remaining brothers, asking silently who her next opponent will be.

“I’m good,” Hvitserk says, shaking his head. He hands a sword to Ivar instead.

It’s interesting to see Ivar battles against Tomoe. He sits on a block of wood while she dodges and moves around, dodging his attack of block with the pole, not with the blade. Everytime she thinks she finally has an opportunity to swing her blade towards his neck, he would either dodges or attacks her, forcing her to back away and changes her position.

Like Ubbe, Tomoe kicks Ivar’s weapon off his hands, and he quickly grabs  another weapon. But Tomoe is faster, she steps back and changes her grip on _naginata_ so it would be further from the blade, and swings it towards his neck.

Her _naginata_ reaches Ivar’s neck, alright. But Ivar’s axe passes by her face the same time her blade touches his neck. It was a draw and they both accept that.

“You’re even better than I imagined,” Ivar smirks.

“Thank you, Ivar,” Tomoe bows slightly before returning to spar with Sigurd.

Ivar tells them that he’s going to see Floki in his house and Tomoe asks him if he’d like her to come, but he says that he’d be fine and Tomoe continues her practice with the brothers while Ivar crawls away.

Tomoe’s battle with Sigurd, like the first time, ends really quick and she can see how frustated he is. She stops the battle and asks Sigurd to sit and observe, since fighting with frustation would worsen his performance. Then, she asks Hvitserk to fight her. Afterall, Hvitserk had had been in a real battle with her.

Hvitserk accepts this time, and with Hvitserk fights her without doing unnecessary taunting swings with his sword like he loves to do. He knows how Tomoe fights and he refuses to lose. The only problem is that Tomoe has the advantage of range, since her weapon is long. He considers on switching to a spear, and pauses the fight to do so, walking to switch his sword to a much longer spear.

However that decision proves to be the wrong one since it was easier for Tomoe to beat him. Since the spear is a stabbing weapon, Hvitserk charges forward to stab Tomoe. But  Tomoe dodges the spear and knocks the spearhead to the side. Then when Hvitserk stumbles, she grabs the pole of the spear with one of her hands  and swings her _naginata_ one-handedly towards Hvitserk’s neck.

“By Gods, I just don’t know how to beat you,” Hvitserk drops his spear and opens his arms, asking Tomoe silently if it’s fine to hug her.

Tomoe laughs and hugs him, patting his back, “You need more patience and practice,” and the walks towards Ubbe who’s practicing his archery.

“Yeah? Well, no wonder Sigurd loses,” he winks at her, and Sigurd complains behind him.

“Any good with this, Tomoe?” Ubbe asks, offering a bow and arrow.

Tomoe chuckles and takes the bow and arrow from his hand, then aims and shoots the target in the neck.

Hvitserk whistles, “Is there anything you’re even remotely bad at?” he asks.

“I’m bad at braiding,” Tomoe chuckles, “I’m bad at braiding, dancing, and uh, selling stuff.”

“But isn’t your father a—?”

“My father is a merchant, yes. I can’t help him with his sale,” Tomoe grins awkwardly.

The brothers laugh, patting her back. They resume their practice after they’re done with their break.

.

.

.

The next two days went by in a blink of eyes. Ivar and Sigurd stayed over at Tomoe’s cabin the night after Ubbe got married, and they were fighting basically every second and Tomoe had to _scream_ at them so they would stop. They were quiet after that, except for times when Ivar just had to showed off that Tomoe belongs to him, although not romantically, just to piss Sigurd off.

The human sacrifice was something entirely new to Tomoe. Yes, they do sacrifice human to the Gods in Japan, but none of those sacrifices includes stabbing people in public. They usually push them off a cliff to sacrifice to the sea gods, or something. But they don’t stab people in public.

Tomoe was standing in the middle of Floki and Ivar. Ivar was holding her hand that was rested on his shoulder when Lagertha stabbed him. By reflex, Tomoe shutted her eyes, wincing. Ivar, however, pulled on Tomoe’s sleeves, saying,

“You have to watch, Tomoe. Look at him departing to meet the Gods. Look at him,” he said, and Tomoe opened her eyes to see a very excited Ivar.

They are departing to England today, and since the Ragnarssons have something to talk about in private, Tomoe wonders around to the great hall. There, Lagertha is sitting on her throne. Tomoe enters the room, nodding at Lagertha.

“How rare, you’re not going to bow?” teases Lagertha.

Tomoe smiles, “You have to forgive me. But Ivar won’t be happy if I bow at you.”

“I heard you work for Ivar now, is that true?”

“Yes,” Tomoe steps forward and takes off the bracelet Lagertha gave to her, “Which is why I have come to return this to you.”

Lagertha accepts the bracelet from Tomoe, “Tell me, Tomoe, why Ivar?”

“Why don’t you ask Astrid why she serves you?” and she turns to leave.

“My son Bjorn also asked you to serve him. So why would you still choose Ivar?”

Tomoe pauses, she turns to look at Lagertha, “Your son Bjorn doesn’t understand loyalty,” she looks at Thorvi with pity, “Your son Bjorn has never been look down to, he knows how strong he is, and that,” Tomoe looks at Astrid and smirks, “That makes him weak.”

Tomoe turns to walk away, and she passes by Bjorn outside of the great hall with a smile and a nod. She walks to the port to see a very pissed Ivar, and she approaches him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He glances up to Tomoe and sighs, holding Tomoe’s other hand.

“You look like you’re in a bad mood,” Tomoe says.

“That’s because I am.”

“Bjorn?”

“Bjorn.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * In Shinto, we worship these deities called Kami, which probably has the closest meaning as the word "God" in English, however Kami isn't just consisted of just Gods. Some are actual, famous people who had passed away; some are animals; some are spirits; some are trees and landscape; and some are natural disasters such as tsunami. Basically it can be anything. It's complicated.  
> * Back in the day, people in Japan used to sacrifice chosen people to Kami, so that, for example, tsunami won't occur.  
> * Fox in Japan Mythology is a messenger of one of the Kami(I forgot which, sorry!), so being with a fox can mean you're blessed and protected. However they love to play tricks just for the sake of it, or for revenge.
> 
> \-- Not an explanation, but a little help, please?--
> 
> I can understand basic Arabic, but I don't understand Spanish at all. Tanaruz came from Spain, but she called her mother, "Ummi" which means, "My mother" in Arabic. Also, when Helga tried to feed her, she refused by saying, "Laa, laa" which means "No, no" in Arabic. 
> 
> Which is why I wrote that people speak in Arabic when they were in Spain. 
> 
> But please correct me if I'm wrong! I'm willing to change the whole thing, if I am. Thank you!


	5. Ienari of Isshi Family

The battle against King Aelle was hardly a battle. It was heavily one-sided, thankfully in their side, and King Aelle lead them to the pit where Ragnar died. He begged them to spare him in exchange for silver and gold, and Ivar told him that their father was worth more than that. They killed him afterwards with blood eagle way.

I was a sight Tomoe would turn her back to, but Ivar, as usual, made her watch it. So she did. She stood by Ivar the whole process, with Ivar holding one of her hands to keep her from turning back.

Then they sail to Wessex to attack King Ecbert. They make camp in Repton, where the five brothers come together to discuss leadership. Again.

This time, Tomoe stands by Ivar’s side. She stands there quietly, not uttering a single word. She can understand why the other brothers chose Bjorn as their leader, and though his reason is childish, she agrees with Ivar that he would make a great leader as well.

“How many battles have you been to?” Ivar taunts Sigurd.

“As many as you, brother. Only, I don’t ride in a nice, comfortable chariot,” Sigurd answers.

Tomoe sighs and rolls her eyes at Sigurd and Sigurd notices her. He glares at her and Ivar, then smirks.

“Well you have been in more battles than your master, Tomoe. What do you think? Who is the true heir of Ragnar Lothbrok?” he asks.

“You all are the true heir of Ragnar Lothbrok. All of you,” she sighs, “and I understand that you choose Bjorn because he’s older and has more experience. But Bjorn doesn’t know _everything_. Why, have you forgotten the times when he would ask me everyday about the things he doesn’t know about Mediterranean Sea?”

“I know that Ivar is the youngest out of you,” she inhales, “but Ivar is still your brother. Bjorn, you said it yourself that you can’t break this brotherhood, which is true. But you only say it towards Ivar as if Ivar was the only one in the wrong.”

“What, so you think I’m wrong too?” Bjorn scoffs.

“Yes, yes, you are,” Tomoe nods, “You brush off every single one of Ivar’s suggestion because you’re angry at him; because Ivar wants to lead the army and you have to prove him that, no, even without his suggestion, you would win anyway. You’re trying to prove him that with age, suddenly comes wisdom,”

“But instead, in my eyes, you act like a child!” Tomoe raises her voice, “What kind of maturity and wisdom is it to fight with your brother just to prove that you’re the best?”

“You are all the son of King Ragnar Lothbrok, and inside each of you, some parts of him remains. Maybe you have the strength, Ubbe has the look, Hvitserk has the playful side of him, Sigurd has his silver tongue—I don’t know! But I do know that Ivar has the brain. So let him contribute, or at least listen to his idea, and act your age!” Tomoe almost yell at Bjorn.

After her outburst, the brothers go quiet. Frustated, she turns around to leave and maybe find some time alone, but before she can walks away, Ivar grabs her wrist, stopping her from leaving. Tomoe sighs and turns to Ivar. He motions her to move closer so he can whisper to her.

Ivar brushes the hair that she always purposely left out from her ponytail and whispers, “Thank you,” as he kisses her cheek gently.

Tomoe pulls away and smiles at him a little, then she bows to him before leaving.

 

* * *

 

“We fight with shield wall, that’s how we fight,” says Hvitserk when Ivar suggests to fight using all the war ground has to offer.

Ivar had asked Tomoe to get onto his chariot with him, since he had something to talk about. Tomoe got on his chariot and asked him what he wanted to talk about, and it turned out Ivar was curious to hear about Ienari’s tricks. So after she told him what she knows, he had been looking around, looking at the trees and hills, no doubt picturing on how to implement some of Ienari’s tactics.

“Why do you want to change the tactics now, Ivar?” Asks Bjorn.

“Why don’t we use everything available around us? The ditches, the hills, the trees, anything can be used for our advantage. Come with me,” Ivar says. Beside him, still on his chariot, Tomoe stands quietly, staring at Bjorn for answer.

Bjorn agrees, and the three of them heads to the battle ground. They look at the vast meadow, surrounded by the trees.

“Well?” Asks Bjorn.

Tomoe gets off off Ivar’s chariot, looking around. She turns to Ivar, “Ivar, this is...”

“This is perfect,” Ivar grins.

 

* * *

 

The tactic is simple; tire them out, frustate them until they come up with a new, quick, last-minute plan: going for their boats. Then they ambush them in the ambush area. They succeed and the Saxons suffer from many lost and retreat. The Vikings cheer, and some of the brothers jump on Ivar’s chariot, ruffling their youngest brothers hair, while the others hug Tomoe tightly. Laughing and cheering.

“What are you celebrating for?” Bjorn asks, “This isn’t over.”

And the cheers died.

But Wessex is a ghost town. No one is there, not a single civillian, no one. The Vikings cheer and raid into the houses and churches, including Tomoe. Except she’s not really looking for riches. She’s looking for things she has never seen before. Whatever that is.

Though because she has been to so many places, it’s hard to find such things. So she starts collecting jewelries and saves them inside her pouch. She spots some medicines and herbs, and saves them too. She saves things she knows she will need in the future, and things she thinks are pretty, and that’s it.

Tomoe enters the smithy, looking at the unfinished weapons on the forging area and picks them up to examine the metal. Still, they use different metal from the one used in her _naginata_. Tomoe sighs as she sits on a stone table. She looks around and spots a metal tong handle sticking out from inside a barrel and approaches it. She pulls out the tong,  holding whatever it’s picking up high in the air. She gasps.

She has entered the smithy to look for things she has never seen before, but instead she sees something very familiar to her.

It’s a fox war mask.

“That’s King Ecbert!” she can hear Bjorn announces outside.

But her body froze. The war mask is an exact copy of Ienari’s, except Ienari’s was a pretty shade of black and red. She can feel her eyes watering, and some tears fall on her cheeks. Ienari is alive, she says internally, Ienari could be alive, she cheers internally.

She brings the mask closer and her legs give out. She cries, sobbing hard as she holds the mask, nuzzling it with her face.

Her tears are still falling, but her legs finally have their strength back, so she stands up and wipes her tears, she runs outside to show the mask to Ivar.

She spots him on his chariot talking to Bjorn who’s leaving him to go inside the castle.

“Ivar,” She calls with her voice hoarse from crying. She clears her throat and wipes her still falling tears.

Ivar turns to her, eyes wide as he reaches for Tomoe’s face, “I didn’t see you, where have you been? We found King Ecbert,” he says as he wipes her tears away, “And you’re crying. Why?”

Tomoe nods, “I heard it from inside the smithy,” she holds Ivar’s hand that wipes her tears, “But look what I found!”

Ivar watches as Tomoe lift her other hand. It’s holding an iron mask. An iron, fox mask.

“I found this inside the smithy,” she explains excitedly, “This mask is the exact copy of my brother’s! Ivar, my brother was here! He could still be here somewhere!”

“That’s—that’s great,” he says, although he isn’t sure if it is.

“Right?” She asks, “I have to go look for him.”

But before Tomoe can run off to the gate, Ivar grabs her hand, holding her from going. She turns to him with a confused face.

“It’s dangerous out there. Some soldiers might still be here, hiding somewhere looking for a chance to ambush,” he says, “Stay.”

“I’ll bring Hvitserk, he would go with me, I’m sure!” she says.

“Tomoe, no,” Ivar says again, “It’s just a mask, you don’t know if he’s here.”

“It’s not just a mask!” she says, “I told you, it’s the exact copy of my brother’s!”

“It is still just a mask!”

“It’s a prove that my brother is still alive!” Tomoe raises her voice, “And he’s here somewhere! He’s here, I know it, I—!”

“Tomoe, no!” Ivar yells, “As your master, I forbid you to go.”

And Tomoe stops. It’s hard for Ivar to see her dark eyes looking sad, crestfallen. But she nods and obeys. Ivar caresses her cheek that is now wet with tears again. Tomoe holds his hand that caresses her cheeks, holding it in place as she leans her face to it and softly sobs.

Ivar feels guilty. Of course he does. If it was his father and he’s in her position, he’d want to go look for him desperately too.

“I’m sorry,” he says, pulling Tomoe into a hug, “I’m very sorry.”

Ivar doesn’t let Tomoe go too far after that. He keeps her by his side as he watches King Ecbert signs the legal right for the land and during the feast.

Tomoe had added a ribbon to the mask, and tied the ribbon to her _sode_. She refuses to talk when the other brothers has asked because she knows that she’ll cry if she talks, so she lets Ivar explains the whole story to his brothers.

Having spending months on the sea together, Hvitserk has consider Tomoe as his friend, and he understands Ivar’s reason for not letting her go. He kneels beside Tomoe’s chair at the feast,

“Ivar was right. If I were him I wouldn’t let you go either,” Hvitserk says, putting his hand over Tomoe’s, “You’re too precious for us, for Ivar.”

Tomoe smiles at him tightly and nods, but says nothing. Hvitserk smiles back at her and stands up, kissing her forehead and walks back to his seat.

The feast begins and everybody cheer, they start eating and so does Tomoe. Ivar and Ubbe try to converse with her and she answers, though her strength has yet to recover and her voice comes out weak. Bjorn makes a speech but it’s all a blur to her. All she knows is that he’s talking about settlement and how he’s going to the mediterranean sea, thus being unable to watch it grows.

Bjorn explains that the other brothers are going to stay, although he won’t. Ivar replies that he’s going to stay, yes, but not for settling down. He wants to attack and conquer more areas, and he urges the others who would like to do the same to come with him, and the crowd cheers.

Ubbe scolds Ivar, saying that he can’t lead the army, in which Ivar replies that he doesn’t want to, he just said that those who want to do the same to come with him, and adds that Ubbe can stay and put on an apron to settle down. Hvitserk backs Ubbe, and Ivar challenges Hvitserk by saying that it doesn’t sound like Hvitserk, who loves to raid, who is a true Viking.

Sigurd joins in, backing his older brothers, but Ivar replies that he doesn’t care about what Sigurd thinks and he wouldn’t even piss down Sigurd’s throat even if his lungs were on fire, and the crowd oohs from his answer. Tomoe, who has been spacing out the whole conversation snaps back to reality and glares at Ivar, who in turn, just smirks at her.

Then their argue turns even worse. Tomoe holds Ivar’s hands to calm him down a little, and it stops Ivar from grabbing his axe multiple times.

“It must be hard for you now that your mother is dead, knowing that she is the only one who had really love you,” Sigurd taunts.

And Ivar slaps Tomoe’s hands away, grabbing his axe, and throws it towards Sigurd in pure anger. Tomoe had tried to stop him, but it was no use. The axe spins in the air in high speed towards Sigurd.

But just before it hits Sigurd, something heavy clashes into it mid-air, making it loses its momentum and misses. The axe hits the wooden arch behind Sigurd while the thing clashes into it hits the ceilings.

The crowd grimaces, and Hvitserk immediately jumps to calm Sigurd down while Ivar stares at the axe he has thrown. He didn’t mean to do that. If it had hit Sigurd, he would’ve killed him and he never meant to kill any of his brothers. Ubbe helps Hvitserk on calming Sigurd down.

Tomoe, on the other hand, looks up to the ceiling. Her heart drops. Somebody had thrown a farming blade to the axe, and if it wasn’t for them, Sigurd could have died. She steps on the table, trying to get a closer look of it. She calls Ubbe, asking him to lift her up so she can reach the ceiling and pull out the blade.

“Who threw this?” Asks Ubbe once Tomoe hands him the blade.

The crowd whispers and murmurs amongst themselves. At the Ragnarssons dining table, Tomoe is holding Ivar, stroking his hair and whispering calming words to him. Sigurd, on the other hand, is taunting Ivar even further, clearly and justifiably angry while Hvitserk holds him down.

A black cloaked man emerges from the crowd. His hood hides his face, but his fair skin and black hair are visible from what little part of his face that isn’t concealed by the hood. He’s a short man by the Northmen’s standard, probably just a little bit taller than Lagertha, and he carries a long, sheathed, curved sword on his hand. His sword, once he puts the tip on the ground, is so long, it stands the same height as him.

Tomoe’s eyes went wide. She lets go of Ivar and stands straight. She can feel the Ragnarssons’ confused gaze on her as she steps closer to the edge of the stage. Ubbe stops her from going any further and she stops, eyes never leaving the man.

“ _Aniue—_ brother _,”_ Tomoe whispers in her native language.

The man nods and steps closer towards the stage. He gracefully places his sword on the ground and kneels. He slides his hood off and bows deeply.

“My name is Isshi no Ienari,” he says in accented Norse, and the crowd whispers. He glances at Bjorn who’s circling him, “I see you have met my beautiful sister,” he raises his head and looks at Tomoe with a soft smile.

This man. This man is no doubt Tomoe’s brother. Not because of their resemblance, no. In fact, beside his long, straight black hair, and his youthful face, there is almost no resemblance between them. It’s in their way of carrying themselves with dignity and pride, yet not a single arrogance seen nor felt.

Like Tomoe, it’s hard to determine his age. His high cheekbones, thin eyebrows, and close-set of eyes make him looks a little bit like a fox. His eyes are small and slanted, with the far corner going upward. His hair is styled the same way as Tomoe, high ponytailed with some strands purposely being left out  to frame his face, but the strands he left out is  way shorter than Tomoe’s, making it looks like a fringe, and yet too long for a fringe.

This man, Isshi no Ienari, is a sight to behold.

“ _Brother!”_ calls Tomoe in Japanese. She wants nothing more but to run to him and throws herself in his arms, but Ubbe is still holding her in place.

“ _My sister,”_ Ienari responds, nodding at her with a soft, genuine smile.

Tomoe turns to Ivar, pleading to him in silence. Ivar crawls down, off the stage, and closer towards Ienari. Like Tomoe, he bows to him as he gets closer.

“So you’re Ienari,” he says, “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Ienari says nothing. He bows slightly in reply.

“You saved my brother,” Ubbe says, letting go of Tomoe, who immediately runs towards Ienari and hugs the man as he loses his balance and chuckles.

“You did,” Ivar says, “I went too far, I never meant to kill him,” he clears his throat, “so thank you.”

“Yes, thank you,” Ubbe says.

Ienari nods, “I’m glad to help,” he says as he strokes Tomoe’s hair.

“Yes, we are grateful,” Bjorn joins in, but his body language is careful, “But what are you doing here? Tomoe told us you were a high-ranking warrior in your country. Are you? Here too?”

“I was, yes. But not here,” he wipes away Tomoe’s tears, “I love games and trickeries, but King Ecbert played too much trickeries, there was no dignity in him,” he says, resentful.

“However I must admit,” Ienari says, “That I once saved one of their priest, and they asked me to join them.”

“And what did you say?” Bjorn asks, hand ready to pull out his sword.

“I said yes and I joined for some time,” he replies honestly, “However, after three months, I got sick of King Ecbert’s tricks. He does not care for his people, nor his family. It’s a disgrace to myself to serve him longer than that.”

The brothers eye him for a few minutes. They watch him as he converse with Tomoe in their native language. They watch him as he finally breaks down crying, holding Tomoe tightly as she holds him back. They watch him as he takes his cloak off, revealing his simple, Saxon attire. In his dagger sheath, engraved the same  symbols that’s in his sword sheath and Tomoe’s _naginata_. In the end, the brothers nod to him, asking him to feast with them.

Ienari tells them stories about his journey. He had been told by Tomoe earlier in their native language that she had said to the brothers that their ship wrecked, so he follows up with the story. He tells them about ending up saved by a fisherman on his boat, and the fisherman brought him back to his house in Wessex. That was also the time when he joined the English military. But like he said, he stopped after three months to look for Tomoe. He went on a journey to Germany and Denmark, and stayed for a year in each country. He came back to England after hearing about  Ragnar Lothbrok’s return and idea to come back and raid England. He came back to warn the kind fisherman who helped him.

When he arrived in England, however, Ragnar had been sent to King Aelle to get executed and there was no sign of raids whatsoever. So he decided to come back to say hello to the fisherman, and stays in Wessex until he’s tired of working part time helping a farmer and the blacksmith.

“I was about to leave today, but I remembered that I left something here,” he says, holding his fox mask up, “It’s a good thing I came back.”

Then he asks them about what happened to King Ecbert, and Bjorn answers. He talks about the legal right of the land and their plan to settle down in England. Hearing that, Ienari looks confused.

“Didn’t King Ecbert renounce his position as a king and hand it to his son? At least that’s what a knight told me before they go,” He asks.

The table grows quiet at his words and Ienari immediately understands that they just got tricked by King Ecbert. Typical.

Then, the brothers argue amongst themselves. Ivar said that it doesn’t matter because they have killed the man, because that was the goal anyway, and as for territories, well, they just have to attack  another place, while Ubbe tells them that it isn’t the point; the point is that they were tricked and now they have to fight again to get a piece of land. Bjorn, on the other hand, well, he just said that he wants no part of that and he’d rather sail to Mediterranean Sea anyway.

Ienari clears his throat to gain attention from the brothers, “If it’s not too much to ask, I would like to stay here with my sister. I believe I can be of help to all of you.”

“Well of course,” Ubbe says, “If you’re as good as Tomoe told us, you will,” he drinks his ale, “But how do we know that you won’t betray us?”

“It’s true,” Sigurd adds, “After all, you once worked for the Saxons.”

Ienari chuckles, “You have my sister, my lords, and I would kill myself if it will save her.”

 “Your sister serves me,” Ivar says, “So we know she’s loyal to us. What are you going to do to convince us?”

“Ah, yes. Yngvildr the Raven,” Ienari says, patting Tomoe’s shoulder, then looks at Ivar, “That’s a very grand name, Lord Ivar. Thank you.”

“Aren’t you going to scold her for serving me?” Ivar sips his ale, “Afterall, is it not a disgrace for her to serve a cripple like me? Hm?”

Ienari laughs, “My lord, I’ve heard of what you did to Prince Aethelwulf. Your tactics,” he nods, “It was a clever combination of mine.”

Ivar smirks and drinks his ale some more.

“I’m afraid I can’t convince you in anyway. As much as I would love to serve any of you, I will need to see what kind of leader you are myself. I don’t doubt my sister’s decision on serving you, Lord Ivar. I’m sure you’re a great individual, however I still need to see for myself,” Ienari says, “If you choose to believe me, I’m afraid it’ll have to be based on blind trust.”

Ubbe shrugs, “Fair enough,” he looks at his brothers, “What do you have to say?”

Bjorn shrugs, “It does not concern me.”

“Since he’s a brother of Tomoe,” Hvitserk says, “I say we give him a chance.”

Sigurd just nods and Ivar shrugs, “I agree.”

“Then it’s settled!” Ubbe says.

Ienari rises from his seat and kneels and bows to the brothers, “Thank you, my lords.”

“Hey, brother of Tomoe!” calls King Harald from his seat, “We are having a bet here, help me out!”

“Yes?” Asks Ienari.

“How old are you?”

Ienari chuckles, “Why, I’m turning 31 this year.”

Bjorn, Hvitserk, and Sigurd chokes on their food and grunts are heard from King Harald’s table. Ivar looks at the two siblings in awe and chuckles, while Ubbe laughs.

“But I thought you were the same age as Ubbe!” Hvitserk says, and Ienari laughs really, really hard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Aniue （兄上） means "older brother" in a very old fashion way. Literally nobody calls their older brother like this anymore unless their family is like really old or they're a part of yakuza.  
> * Oodachi is very long, and yes they can get as tall as their user, sometimes even taller. I used to practice naginata-jutsu, and in my dojo, there would be people who practice oodachi and their teacher used an oodachi that's taller than him.
> 
> There aren't that many weird names and/or customs in this chapter so I'm just going to give some trivia regarding Tomoe and Ienari:  
> * Tomoe is based on a famous onna-bugeisha whose name is also Tomoe（Tomoe Gozen 巴午前（Gozen is not a name, it just means Young Lady or Lady））, basically she's a badass warrior who's good with archery and naginata, and also a good horse rider.  
> * Ienari's weapon and looks are based on Sasaki Kojiro, he's a famous sword master who spesialised in oodachi/nodachi. I also stole his looks from his statue in Iwakuni. Somehow the statue just came into my mind when I was writing about him, Idk maybe I miss my hometown.  
> * Tomoe's name is Naniwa no Tomoe that means Tomoe of Naniwa. Well, Naniwa is what's now called Osaka.


	6. York

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hvitserk cockblocks.

They stay in Wessex for quite sometime before moving back to Repton so they can keep an eye on their ships. Bjorn and Halfdan are preparing for their journey to go back to the Mediterranean Sea, they’re departing tomorrow and their crews are getting really busy loading stuffs and preserving food.

Ienari, on the other hand, is enjoying the feeling of wearing a _hitatare_ after a long time having to wear Saxons’ clothings. He didn’t even ask, but Tomoe made it for him and gave it to him earlier that morning. It makes him standout in the middle of the Vikings, but seeing Tomoe, who looks comfortable in her own _kimono,_ he decides to ignore his shyness.

While their eldest brother have been busy preparing for his own journey, the rest of the Ragnarssons have been sparring with Ienari and Tomoe. As it turns out, Ienari _is_ strong. Part of it is because of his massive _oodachi_ , and part of it is because of his agility. Like his sister, he is fast on his feet and swings, it’s ridiculous how someone can control such a massive sword with such ease. To this day, neither Ragnarssons nor Tomoe has succeeded in defeating Ienari in a spar.

Ienari goes for a walk that evening. The sun is going down and the sky is a beautiful shade of red and orange, and is most beautiful seen on a small hill not far from his hut. When he got there, though, Tomoe and Ivar is already there. There, at the top of the hill, Ivar lying on the grass, his head on Tomoe’s lap. They seem to not realising his presence, so he stays quiet to watch.

Tomoe strokes and plays with Ivar’s hair, “Your hair is getting longer,” she commented softly.

Ivar looks up, “Are you going to braid it?”

“Oh Ivar,” Tomoe laughs, “I can’t even braid my own hair.”

Ivar reaches up to take one of Tomoe’s hand, entwining their hands together, “Tell me something Tomoe. When I throw the axe towards Sigurd, how did you feel?”

Tomoe ponders for a few seconds, “I felt scared. But not of you, _for_ you. Your brother has been trying to put the blame on you on everything and I know it’s your anger acting, but if,” she sighs, “If it had hit Sigurd and he died, I wouldn’t know what to do.”

“Are you not scared of me?” Ivar asks, his thumb stroking the back of Tomoe’s hand, “If my anger can drive me to almost killing my own brother, are you not scared of what I might do to you?”

Tomoe smiles sadly, “Of course I am. But then again, I’ve lived a life doing nothing but challenging death this past three years. I know the risk, Ivar, and I don’t mind.”

Ivar says nothing afterwards. He brings Tomoe’s hand closer to his lips and kisses it softly, but says nothing.

Ienari watches them and smiles, he decides not to bother them and turns back. Perhaps he should cook dinner before Tomoe return instead.

 

* * *

 

Bjorn, Halfdan and the rest of their crews depart the next morning. Just before they left, though, Bjorn asked Tomoe if she’d like to come with them, in which Tomoe replied that he now knew the way and her assistance is not required. Bjorn accepted her answer and departed.

Now that Bjorn is gone, the rest of the Ragnarssons gather inside Ubbe and Hvitserk’s hut. Tomoe and Ienari also participated in their discussion over what they’re going to do next. Ubbe proposes to take the land they were “given” with anyway, while Ivar suggests that they should take another place instead.

“I suggest that we go back North, sail back to where we battled King Aelle,” suggests Ivar.

“Our father’s goal is not just to raid, he also wanted to set establishments,” Ubbe sighs.

“You’re not listening to me, brother. I say we go north, where it’s closer to home,” Ivar says.

“If I may interrupt,” Ienari clears his throat, “I agree with Ivar. It’s a bad idea to make a settlement in the middle of the enemy’s country. If we were to get attacked, reinforcement will have a hard time just to get to where we are.”

“See? Thank you Ienari,” Ivar smirks, “and it’ll also be closer to the shipping route.”

“Where should we go to, then?” Asks Ubbe, looking at both Ivar and Ienari.

“I suggest York,” Ienari says, “The town is surrounded by strong walls the Roman had left them with, so their defense should give us some kind of advantage.”

Ubbe stays quiet, pondering over his options. He turns towards Hvitserk, “What do you think?”

Hvitserk nods, “I agree with Ivar.”

“So am I,” adds Sigurd.

“Then it’s settled,” says Ivar as he crawls down to leave.

Tomoe rises from her seat to follow him, but Ivar says, “I’m just going to see Floki. You don’t have to come,” so she nods and obeys.

Now that Tomoe has nothing to do and the brothers look like they want to have a private discussion among themselves, she asks Ienari to help her finish the rest of their armours. Ienari agrees to her suggestion and they excuse themselves, heading to a hut that they’ve been using as a makeshift smithy.

 

* * *

 

Ivar rides on his chariot to go see Floki. It has been weeks, and he has yet to see Floki anywhere; not by the ships, not wondering around the huts, nowhere. And Ivar understands how depressed Floki has been since Helga’s death, but he misses his teacher and his father figure.

He stops his chariot close enough to Floki’s for a short crawl. He smirks as he sees the man working on a small boat.

“Floki!” calls Ivar as he crawls closer, “What are you doing making a toy boat?”

“This is not a toy boat,” Floki answers as he paused his work to talk to Ivar, “This is a one man ship! I don’t need anyone else’s help to sail it.”

“And where are you going? Hm?”

“Anywhere the Gods take me!” Floki answers, and he gets back to work.

Ivar stares at the man, his chest feels heavy and he can feel his eyes burn, “I don’t want you to go. I still need you to battle against the Christians,” Floki turns to his direction and he inhales deeply, “My brothers are too soft and you know that, Floki.”

Seeing Floki keeps on working without bothering his request, Ivar bites the inside of his cheeks, holding back his tears, “Please?” but Floki ignores him, “You know you’re like my real father.”

Hearing that, Floki sighs and walks towards the young man, squatting on his ship to see Ivar better, “No. Your real father was Ragnar Lothbrok. The most famous man in the world. Don’t you ever forget that, Ivar, or the Gods will punish you,” he looks at Ivar, whose eyes now glassy with tears, “Now let me get on with my boat,” and left him to continue his work.

Ivar tries to steady himself. With trembling voice he begs, “You cannot leave me. My brothers,” he sniffles, “They don’t believe that I didn’t mean to kill Sigurd. But I didn’t want to. He was my brother.” he holds back his tears, “Hm? That is why you cannot leave me,”

“I will be too lonely,” he finally cracks, crying and sobbing.

Floki gets off off his unfinished boat, placing a hand on Ivar’s shoulder, “I have to go,” he says, “Now that Helga is gone there is nothing for me here. This world no longer interests me,” he says as he watches as Ivar sobs, “That is why I must submit myself to the tide and the wind and the will of the Gods.”

Ivar sobs, “My heart is broken.”

Floki hugs Ivar, and rocks him softly, “It will repair,” he says as he strokes his hair, “and you will not be lonely. You have a great warrior by your side, and her brother.”

Ivar buries his face on Floki’s shoulder, “Ienari is only here for Tomoe,” he sobs.

Floki pulls away from Ivar and strokes his hair, “And she is here for you. Do not forget that she had had many chances to go with Bjorn, and she refused them all. For your sake. Do not waste her loyalty.”

Ivar looks down and cry, and Floki decides to call it a day for his ship and console the crying young man he had spent many years teaching him the way of Gods and many other things, instead.

 

* * *

 

Tomoe collects the dirty plates and bowls and passes it to Ienari to wash. She brings her long hair to the front and combs it slowly, singing a nursery rhyme while she does it. Ienari joins her singing, and the two siblings giggle as they sing.

Suddenly, the door of their hut opens slowly, and Ivar enters. Seeing Ivar, Tomoe places her comb on a small table and bows slightly.

“Good evening, Ivar. How was Floki doing?” she asks cheerfully. As Ivar crawls closer though, she can see how red Ivar’s blue eyes are and frowns, “What happened?” she asks softly, worriedly.

Ivar grunts as Tomoe’s hand reaches for his cheek. He glances at Ienari, and he immediately understands.

Ienari bows and excuses himself, saying that he’s going to check on the other Ragnarssons. He puts on his cloak and left. Leaving Ivar and Tomoe alone.

As soon as the door closes, Ivar leans forward, burying his face on Tomoe’s shoulder. Tomoe stays quiet and wraps her arms around Ivar’s neck, stroking his hair and patiently soothes him as he cries softly.

Tomoe pulls away after a few moment, she helps Ivar adjusting his legs in front of the fire and puts her blanket over his shoulder. She then pours him cup of tea and hands it to him. She sits by his side in silence, waiting for him to explain to her what had happened in silence.

“Floki is leaving,” Ivar finally says.

“Where to?” she asks, shifting closer to him.

Ivar shakes his head and sniffles, “To where the Gods will take him,” he sips his tea.

Tomoe nods in understanding. She places a hand on Ivar’s shoulder, “The Gods will protect him.”

Ivar nods weakly and drinks the rest of his tea. He takes off Tomoe’s blanket and hands it back to Tomoe.

“I’m staying here tonight,” he says as he starts taking off the many layers of his clothes, down to his last two shirts.

Tomoe nods, smiling softly. She folds his shirts as he crawls to her bed.

“Tomoe,” he calls, “Please don’t sleep on the floor.”

Tomoe chuckles and sits on the bed beside Ivar. She shakes her head, “I won’t. I’ll just sleep on my brother’s bed over the room partition,” seeing Ivar frowns, she laughs and lies down, “I’m kidding, my bed is fluffier.”

“Tomoe,” calls Ivar just above a whisper. Tomoe shifts to face him, “Don’t ever leave me,” he says softly, sadly.

Tomoe stares at Ivar’s blue eyes that are now red from crying. She stares at his flushed cheeks and lips, suddenly feeling the urge to kiss him. She shakes her head and looks away, suddenly the ceiling is the most attractive thing in the room.

She clears her throat, “I won’t, Ivar. Unless you ask me to, or unless it will save you from danger, I won’t.”

Ivar frowns, “Don’t be stupid, I won’t ask you to leave,” he shifts closer towards Tomoe, nuzzling his nose on her cheeks, “You’re the only one I have left.”

Tomoe sighs and force herself to look at Ivar directly at him. Ivar leans closer and touches their forehead together, his hand resting on her waist. It takes her a few minutes, but she eventually leans back to him.

His lips tilt upwards and his hand tilts her chin up. He brings his face closer to her, expecting her to pull away and say something about it not being appropriate, but she doesn’t. He presses his lips to hers softly, hesitatedly. Afraid that she’ll change her mind and pushes him away. But she doesn’t.

Instead, she leans in to return the kiss. Ivar has never felt so overwhelmed in his life. Not when Marghrete told him that he’s special, not even then. He softly brings Tomoe closer, pressing their body together, kissing her deeper.

She sighs against him, letting him dominate the kiss. They pull away to breathe and stare into each other. She stares into his blue eyes, thinking about how tired they look right now. She can see his eyelids drooping, clearly sleepy from crying earlier.

Tomoe smiles and pecks him on the lips, “Go to sleep, Ivar.”

Ivar hums and closes his eyes, brushing their noses together, “What happened to this being improper?”

Tomoe chuckles, “You’re right, this _is_ improper. I’ll sleep on my brother’s bed after all,” she says as she jokingly shifts to get out of the bed, but Ivar pulls her closer, hugging her tightly.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Ivar mumbles against her hair.

Tomoe shakes her head and laughs softly, leaning back into him, “I’m not going anywhere, Ivar.”

She can feel Ivar falling asleep as his body becomes heavier, and she can feel his lips moving to mumble, “Good,” and his breathing goes steady afterwards. She smiles to herself and snuggles closer to his chest, listening to his heartbeat until she, too, falls asleep.

 

* * *

 

When Ivar wakes up and finds that Tomoe isn’t beside him, he immediately sits and looks around for any sign of her. He immediately relaxes when he hears her singing in her native language. He can’t see her, but surely she’s close by. So he adjusts his legs and leans back to the wall, closing his eyes as he listen to her singing.

He opens his eyes again as her voice grows closer. Tomoe enters the hut not long after, carrying dried laundry in a basket. Her hair is rolled up in a bun and her sleeves are held by a ribbon. She stops singing the moment she meets his gaze and smiles at him.

“Good morning, Ivar,” she greets, putting down the basket and starts folding the clothes, “You’re up early. I’m afraid I haven’t cooked breakfast yet.”

“I’m not hungry yet,” Ivar says, crawling down from the bed and closer to her, “You were singing.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, did I wake you up?”

Ivar shakes his head, “No,” he adjusts his sitting position in front of her, “What were you singing about?”

“It’s about a child who lost their father to the sea,” she smiles sadly, “It’s more of a letter to their father, they’re telling him what they had been doing and how much they’ve grown, you know, things like that.”

Ivar hums, “The child is both of us, then?”

Tomoe smiles and shakes her head, “The child is neither of us, Ivar. My father lost _me_ to the sea, and you lost your father to snakes. Floki hasn’t left yet.”

Ivar shrugs and crawls closer, “Sing something else?”

“I don’t know any song in Norse.”

“Sing in Japanese, then.”

Tomoe knits her eyebrows together, trying to remember what other songs she remembers. She has an idea to just sing a bunch of nonsense and silly things but make it sounds like a real song since he won’t understand anyway, and she chuckles to herself. She finished folding the last clothes and proceeds to making breakfast.

She decided that her idea is a genius idea and starts making up a song about making breakfast in simple melody. She sings and glances at Ivar to check whether he realises that what she’s singing is a bunch of nonsense, but it seems like he doesn’t, and she has to hold back her laugh.

However, when Ienari enters the hut laughing, Tomoe knows that Ivar grows suspicious towards her singing. Ienari bows to greet Ivar and Ivar responds with a nod. Ienari sits accross Ivar, still laughing, he asks,

 _“What are you singing?”_ he asks in Japanese.

 _“Don’t ruin this, he doesn’t understand me anyway,”_ She replies in melody to make it look like she’s still singing.

Ienari laughs really hard at her answer and Ivar frowns, suspicious of their interaction.

“What is she singing?” Ivar asks.

Ienari shakes his head, still laughing, he answers, “She’s singing—”

 _“Aniue!”_ Tomoe complains, albeit giggling herself.

“She’s singing a bunch of nonsense,” He laughs and Tomoe falls down, giggling. Ienari bites the inside of his cheeks to try and hold back his laugh, “She said you wouldn’t understand her anyway so she made up her own song.”

Ivar laughs at that, and he turns to see Tomoe who is still in her giggling fit and throws one of the clothes she had just folded at her, and she laughs even harder.

They have breakfast afterwards. It’s a pretty loud breakfast with Ivar and Tomoe throwing insults jokingly at each other while Ienari watches the two, shaking his head as he does. The two goes for a ride on Ivar’s chariot afterwards, he is trying to get Tomoe used to riding chariot beside him in full speed.

 

* * *

 

Tomoe overslept on the day Floki departs. She had been working on her _kusazuri_ last night and ended up sleeping really late. As the result, she woke up way later than the time she’s supposed to wake up.

She runs to the port, hoping she’d still be able to say her goodbye to Floki, and thank the Gods, she does. Floki is saying goodbye to Ivar, and upon noticing her running, still in her thin, one layer _kimono_ she wears to sleep, he decides to wait for her.

“Tomoe,” Floki says as she finally reached him. He pats her shoulder, “Take care of Ivar.”

“I will,” Tomoe replies, still trying to catch her breath, “Be well, Floki.”

Floki only nods before he walks back to his ship and sails. Everyone from the camp gathers by the riverbank, saying their goodbyes as Floki’s ship passes them. They hail Floki, and when the ship has completely gone, they return to make preparation for their own journey to attack York.

 

* * *

 

“That’s York,” Ienari says.

They had sailed to the North and make camp not too far from York, and while the others are busy managing the camp, the brothers go on a scout to see York, accompanied by Ienari and Tomoe.

York is just like what Ienari had said, with the tall walls and good defense. The boys nod in approval, yes, this city is excellent, they agree.

“Great! We attack tomorrow!” said Ivar, crawling backward.

“No, wait,” Ubbe says, “I remember what our father said: It’s better to attack during a Christian Holidays. During those days they’re all either drunk or in the church.”

“But how are we going to know when is the next Christian holiday?” Asks Sigurd.

They all look at Ienari, who shakes his head, “Forgive me, I’m unfamiliar with that subject.”

Ivar nods at him, “Don’t worry, we’ll find a way,” as he crawls away, back to the camp.

However, the “way” he referred turns out to be asking two innocent children about said subject, and then sacrifice them to the Gods for success. Tomoe and Ienari object, saying that the sacrificing part is unnecessary, and they can substitute the sacrifice with an animals or basically anything but two innocent children.

“But if we let them go back, they’ll tell about us and they’ll be ready when we attack,” Ubbe argues, “We’ll lose the element of surprise.”

“Well then, _I_ will ask the children,” Tomoe suggests, “I don’t look like a Viking, I don’t even dress like one. I’ll come back with them to York with them, then during the day we attack, I’ll open the gate from inside. Saving us a great deal of effort!”

“No, you can’t,” Ivar says, glaring at Tomoe, “You don’t dress like us _nor_ the Saxons. They’ll be suspicious.”

“Ivar,” Tomoe sighs, “Stop spoiling me. I can at least do this much.”

Ivar was about to answer, but Sigurd beats him to it, “I agree with Tomoe _and_ Ivar. While we don’t have to kill the children, we can’t send Tomoe. They’ll be confused since you look foreign, yet not a single foreign ships has been spotted,” he reasons, “Let’s send Ienari, instead. He still has his Saxon attire, right?”

Ienari nods, “Yes. I agree with Sigurd. Sending Tomoe would be a bad idea, if they see her without noticing any foreign ships, they’ll try to double-check and send a scout to the shore. Then, we might get spotted; if we kill the scout, they’ll wonder why he doesn’t return and will raise their defense.”

“I agree with Sigurd,” Ivar says, still glaring at Tomoe.

In the end, they all agree to Sigurd’s suggestion and Ienari goes back to the camp to change his attire while the others keeping their eyes on the fishing children.

Ienari came back a few minutes later with his Saxon attire. He approaches the children and asks them when the next Christian holiday is, and he signs, “3,” with his fingers on the hand he hides behind his back to the Ragnarssons and Tomoe. He says something to the children about escorting him to York and finding a place to stay in, and he left not long after with the children leading him the way.

 Tomoe and the brothers left too after that, telling the others that they’re attacking in three days. They all agreed and prepare for a sacrifice immediately.

Tomoe takes down her bun as soon as she gets into her tent. She takes off her armour too, placing them beside her mattress. As she takes off her gauntlet, she can hear rustles of someone entering her tent behind her.

“Please don’t make a habit of entering my place without knocking,” Tomoe says as she turns around and smiles at Ivar.

“You don’t seem to mind,” Ivar replies, smirking. He crawls closer to her and gestures at her to sit on his lap.

Tomoe laughs, “On the contrary, I do mind. I wouldn’t complain if I don’t,” she says as she sits on his lap anyway.

Ivar scoffs and shakes his head, “I don’t believe you,” he taunts as he puts his arms around her waist.

“Of course you don’t,” she rolls her eyes at him and smiles. She leans her head on his shoulder and let him plays with her finger.

“Why do you want to put yourself in danger that bad?” Asks Ivar as he brings her finger closer to his lips.

“Ivar,” she sighs and turns to face him, “You’re my master, I will do anything to help and protect you.”

Ivar shakes his head and brings their face closer, “Am I _just_ your master?” he asks in whisper.

Tomoe says nothing, she shifts around to straddle him and kisses him instead. Ivar hums and snakes his hands inside from the gap of her _hakama,_ and grabs her rear, making her jerks and muffles a squeal in surprise. Ivar smirks at her reaction and massages them even more, resulting in her moaning between their kisses.

Ivar’s gaze fell to her crossed collar, thinking about how easy it would be for him to take it off if he wanted to, and he wants to. He jerks his hips and enjoys the sound of her gasping. She glares at him the best glare she can do in her state when they part for air, but Ivar only grins at her and looks at her with an innocent stare before teasing her, biting her lower lip gently.

“Hey, Tomoe, the sacrifice ritual is about to sta—Oh,” come Hvitserk’s voice from behind.

They pull away from each other and Tomoe turns around to see a trying-not-to-smirk Hvitserk. He puts his hands up defensively, backing away.

“Oh, please continue. I didn’t... mean to interrupt,” Hvitserk says, and quickly exits her tent.

Tomoe sighs and rolls her eyes. She kisses Ivar one more time before standing up, fixing herself, and heads towards the exit, “I’ll see you at the ritual?” Ivar nods, grinning from ear-to-ear.

She exits the tent afterwards, looking for Hvitserk. He’s easy to spot, since he’s standing not too far from her tent, holding two cups of ale. His smirk widens as as she approaches him and hands one of the ale to her.

“So it _is_ true that you two are, _you know,_ ” he teases, bringing back their old joke.

Tomoe just scoffs, hitting him jokingly as they walk closer to the altar.

 

* * *

 

Screams are heard from inside the walls. Screams of people yelling instructions, and screams of people in pain. It doesn’t take long at all until the gate of York opened, revealing Ienari with his fox mask on, holding massive, bloodied sword. Behind him, civilians are screaming and fleeing from the area.

The Vikings charge inside the town, expecting some soldiers would come and defend their town, but they can only see severed bodies of soldiers scattered on the ground, and all that’s left of them are the ones at the top of the wall, who are shooting at them blindly in fear. But even they’re all wiped out by the Vikings’ archers in a few seconds. Seeing that there is none of the pesky soldiers remaining, the Vikings proceed on raiding the town.

Ivar, as usual, charges on with his chariot with Hvitserk and Tomoe on it. They both get off the chariot after reaching the centre of the town, slashing and killing whoever is in their way. Ienari follows closely from behind.

 Ubbe spots a church and opens its door. They look around and don’t attack immediately, choosing to watch what’s going to be the masses’ reaction instead. Hvitserk and Sigurd walks closer towards the door and steps inside the church at the same a lady turns around and notices them. She screams at the sight of them and immediately runs to safe her life. Her scream alerts the masses as they turn around and run from the raiding Vikings.

Hvitserk charges forward and upon seeing a beautiful nun, as usual, decided to have fun before killing her. Ubbe, on the other hand, is approached by a nun who asks him to kill her, so kill her he does. Sigurd busies himself taking the golds and treasures the church has, and Ivar, being Ivar, tortures the priest with pouring melted gold cross into his mouth. Tomoe decided to pretend that that isn’t happening and helps Sigurd collecting the treasure into the sack, while Ienari continues on his killing spree.

And with that, York is theirs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Hitatare: Outfit worn by Samurai and commoners.  
> * Kusazuri: Skirt armour thingy (Yes, I'm very, very good with words).


	7. Thinking of Home

The feast that night is merry and especially noisy. The Vikings decided to claim their houses the next day, and choose to party the night out. They feast on whatever foods are available inside the Saxons’ houses, and drinks whatever alcohols are stored inside the church and civilians’ houses, ale and wine alike.

Tomoe, being the organised young woman, chose to claim her place first, then go to the feast a little late. She chose a house big enough to house her brother and herself, with big rooms and nice kitchen at the hook across the church.

She washes herself from all of the blood that sticks on her and her armours, wiping it clean and draws a bath for herself. After she’s done with her bath, she looks down to check the length of her hair, that has reached right below her calves and plays with it, wondering whether or not she should cut it.

She decided that now isn’t the time to cut her hair and combs it neatly instead. She ties her hair really low, right at the length of her waist, just so it won’t bother her too much. She looks at her own reflection in the mirror and smiles. She had seen a red paint earlier at one of the shelves and draws herself an eyeliner at the corners of her eyes with the paint.

She didn’t bring her best _kimono_ , but she tries to make do with what she has anyway. Although since most of her _kimonos_ are dirty, she has to cut down the layers of her _kimono_ and wears a fur coat instead.

Since none of the Vikings nor the Shieldmaidens went to clean themselves after the battle before going to the feast, Tomoe shows up as the cleanest and most likely prettiest one in the feast. She spots the brothers with her own brother, drinking their fill of ale and wine.

“Ah! Here comes Freyja!” Hvitserk greets her in slurry tone, no doubt drunk. He gets up and approaches Tomoe, taking her hand and leading her to their table.

“I’m pretty sure Lady Freyja is blond-haired, Hvitserk,” she teases.

“You’re so pretty,” Sigurd says, slurred.

“And you’re tipsy,” Tomoe replies, tapping Sigurd’s shoulder as she passes by him to approach Ivar.

Ivar sweeps her by her waist as soon as she’s close enough to him, and places her on his lap. Tomoe squeals and chuckles at him, whom in turn, grins and kisses her in front of everyone. They whistle and clap at them.

Tomoe hides her face in embarrassment with her big sleeves and Ivar laughs, handing her a glass of ale, which she almost downs completely.

The feast resumes just like that for the rest of the night, with Tomoe sitting on Ivar’s lap shyly, not used to the teasing everyone throws at them, especially Hvitserk, who sits right beside Ivar.

As the night turns into dawn, more and more people passed out from the alcohol, that includes Hvitserk, Ubbe, and Ienari. Sigurd himself is slipping away from his consciousness, but he sneers the moment he looks at Tomoe and Ivar, who seem to have forgotten where they are, busy with each other.

“A fine girl like you shouldn’t be with him, you know,” Sigurd sneers, drunk, “You know, Marghrete told me that this sorry cripple isn’t even capable of satisfying a woman.”

Tomoe parts away from Ivar, who is, thankfully, too drunk to be able to comprehend Sigurd’s word. She licks her lips and smirks at him, “Oh, Sigurd, then can you explain how I’m satisfied just being with him?”

“That’s what you say now,” Sigurd points at her, “But you will later feel how frustrated you’d be because you can’t have sex with him.”

Tomoe rolls her eyes and returns her attention towards Ivar, kissing him open-mouthed while glancing and smirking at Sigurd. He grunts and stands up wobbly. He tries to walk away, but in his drunken state, the best he can do is walk three steps before falling down and instantly passed out.

Tomoe laughs at the sight, and turns her attention towards Ivar, who looks seconds away from passing out himself. She giggles and strokes his hair, lulling him to sleep. She adjusts herself to a comfortable position and leans against Ivar, closing her eyes to sleep.

 

* * *

 

It’s funny to see everyone suffering from hangover when Tomoe is the only one who refrains herself from drinking too much last night. It’s even funnier since she can play prank on Ienari without him scolding her, since grunting is the best he can do right now.

What’s not funny, however, is how in pain Ivar is right now. His brothers had carried him to his room and left him alone with Tomoe, who helps him washes up. He keeps grunting in pain, and yet assures her that he’s alright. Tomoe doubts him, though, so she tries her best to be as gentle as she can.

Tomoe asks a slave to call for a healer, and the healer comes not long after. She hands him some drugs to help with the pain and some salve for his wrist.

She teaches Tomoe how to make and apply the salve, introducing the plants used in it as they go, since Tomoe is still unfamiliar with the plant names they use. Tomoe had found a piece of paper and a quill and ink earlier, and she uses them to take note, translating everything into Japanese.

Ivar dismisses the healer after that. Still wincing, he stares at Tomoe, who is busy drawing the plants used for the drugs and salve.

“Can I see?” Ivar asks, pointing at her notes. Tomoe hands the note to him, “This looks different than the Saxons,” he said, tracing her writing.

“Of course,” Tomoe says, “Japanese uses different characters—alphabets—than the Saxons. Which is why I can’t read their writings.”

Ivar hums, “How do you write your name in Japanese?” he asks, curious.

Tomoe writes a single character, “Tomoe.”

“Ienari?”

She writes down Ienari’s name, “Isshi,” she points at another, “Ienari.”

“That looks way more complicated than yours,” he says, fascinated, “What about my name?”

Tomoe hesitates, “What does your name mean, Ivar?”

“Does that matter?” Ivar asks, tilting his head.

“Of course,” she points at the “Isshi”, “This is combined from the characters of _ichi_ —one, and _ya_ —arrow. But combined, they’re pronounced, “Isshi”. Our writing is very complicated.”

“I’m not sure, but, um,” Ivar winces, “It means archer.”

“My brother’s name is an arrow, and your name is archer?” she chuckles as she writes down the character, “It’s not pronounced Ivar, but it means archer. This is the best I can do, unfortunately.”

Ivar picks up the paper, examining the writing she just wrote, “Will you ever teach me your native language?”

Tomoe blinks, “If you want to, but what for?”

“So you can’t fool me like the last time?” Ivar grins, and grimaces in pain the second after.

Tomoe hands him a glass of water, rubbing his shoulder to try to make him feel a little bit better. Ivar drinks the water and hands Tomoe the empty glass.

Ivar sighs in frustration, “Why do you care so much about me, Tomoe?”  he grunts, “Is it because I’m a cripple?”

Tomoe strokes his cheeks, “I’m here because it is my duty to serve you,” she sighs and shakes her head, “Is what I’m supposed to say. But no, Ivar, I’m here because I care for you. I—” she leans towards Ivar, “I love you.”

“You do?” Ivar blinks, eyebrows knitted together, looking genuinely confused.

Tomoe chuckles softly, “Ivar, I kissed you, I shared bed with you, I bathed with you,” she brushes back Ivar’s unbraided long hair with her finger, “You know me and how much I care about what’s proper and what’s not. I wouldn’t do that if I don’t.”

 “I don’t understand,” Ivar says, “I’m just a cripple!”

“First, I hate it when you call yourself so,” She frowns, “Second, you’re perfect to me.”

“I still don’t understand,” Ivar sighs.

Tomoe shrugs, “You don’t have to,” she leans on his shoulder, closing her eyes.

“Even if,” Ivar pauses and deeply inhales, “Even if I can’t satisfy you?” he asks in a hushed voice, ashamed of himself.

Tomoe smiles and kisses his shoulder, “Even then.”

She can hear Ivar scoffs as he pulls her closer, “You’re weird,” he kisses her temple, “I love you too, my raven.”

Tomoe hums and snuggles closer, “Also who says you can _only_ satisfy a woman with your prick?”

 

* * *

 

Ivar watches as Ienari trains Tomoe with a new weapon that he made by himself. Ivar had watched his whole process of making the weapon from the scratch. It was weird and foreign; even the blacksmith he had brought had a hard time learning from him. He still offers to teach the man, though. Like his sister, he has great patience.

Tomoe falls down grunting, with Ienari’s practice wooden sword on her neck. Ienari helps her get up, then ask her to practice with others instead. Ivar raises his eyebrows as he watches the man approaching him. 

Ienari offers him for a spar, and Ivar agrees. He arms himself with a sword and asks Ienari to exchange his wooden sword with his real sword so it’ll be equal, but Ienari refuses.

“I do not want to seriously hurt you,” says the black-haired man.

Ivar scoffs, “Don’t make me laugh,” as he swiftly attacks Ienari.

However, Ienari blocks it with the “dull” side of his wooden sword. He returns the attack from above, and Ivar moves his hand to block the attack. But the attack turns out to be a feint. He retracts his sword and kicks down the chair Ivar is sitting on.

Ivar falls down pathetically, rolling and grunting. He glares at Ienari, who approaches him slowly with his massive wooden sword in its resting stance. He throws an axe at him, but Ienari quickly dodges it with ease. He strikes his sword to Ivar. Ivar groans and blocks the attack, and he returns the attack with anger.

By this time, Ubbe, Hvitserk, Sigurd, and Tomoe has stopped their own spars to watch the two. Ivar in great disadvantage attacks Ienari with anger and fury and frustration, while Ienari, hard as a stone, blocks and dodges with ease. Hvitserk steps forward to help Ivar, but Tomoe stops him. She shakes her head and asks Hvitserk to keep watching.

“One day you will fall from your chariot,” Ienari says coldly as he finally ends the fight with his wooden sword on Ivar’s neck, “and there will neither be chairs nor tree stumps for you to sit on,”

“One day Tomoe would be fighting too far from you to be able to help you,” Ienari continues as he starts another round, “One day your brothers would be too busy saving themselves,”

The round ends far too quickly, but Ienari starts again, “One day you’ll be alone. On the ground. By yourself,” Ienari says coldly, his word strikes Ivar where it hurts, “You cannot walk, you cannot control your anger,”

“Now what,” Ienari ends and starts the practice over again, “Can you do?” he ends it, again, victorious, “What can you do if everyone you love and trust right now is dead? What then? What will you do?”

“You’re childish, but you’re strong and clever. Your enemies fear you, but your allies sneer at you,” Ienari kneels down, staring at Ivar with empty eyes, “You’re clever and strong. Yet, you’re still unworthy of my service,”

“Be worthy of me, Ivar the Boneless.”

Ivar seethes, “What am I supposed to do? Hm? What is a cripple supposed to do to make you, _the great_ Isshi no Ienari to serve me?” Ivar asks mockingly.

Ienari scoffs and lifts Ivar with surprising ease. He puts Ivar down on his chariot, “You can start by stop calling yourself a cripple. My master was not perfect either, but he didn’t fish for people’s pity by calling himself names,” and left the training ground.

His brothers and Tomoe check on him immediately after Ienari left. Hvitserk stares at Ienari’s disappearing back and smirks.

“What’s wrong with him?” Hvitserk asks.

“He’s probably sick of us,” Sigurd says, “He left King Ecbert after three months because he’s ashamed of himself for serving him. Maybe he’s ashamed for helping us too.”

“Maybe he’s planning to leave,” Ivar suggests, rolling his eyes.

Ubbe nods slightly, “Did he say anything about that, Tomoe?”

“Of course he won’t tell her! He knows how loyal she is to me!”

“I don’t think that’s the case,” Tomoe says hesitated, “I think he’s just frustrated at Ivar because he thinks too lightly of himself.”

Hvitserk laughs, “And why, our dear Tomoe, would he care?”

“Because his previous lord was a sick, blind man.”

“What?” the brothers ask simultaneously.

Tomoe sighs, taking her high ponytail off, “Lord Emishi, his previous master, had been dying for years. Years before I can remember, before Ienari became a _samurai_ ,”

“His health deteriorated so badly, and by the third year my brother served him, he went blind. But he still participated in strategy meetings and even battles,”

“Ever since he got blind, many people look down on him, they kept saying that his son should have replaced him, and he shouldn’t go to the battlefield, even if he stayed in the main camp the entire time,”

“However he proved himself worthy of being a leader, worthy of battle even after he turned blind. He was cross outside the battlefield and showed no mercy during war. He was so ruthless and strong that many people would forgot that he was a blind man,” Tomoe pauses, “I think he expects Ivar to be like him,”

Ivar stays quiet, looking down at the ground frowning, “And do you agree with him, my raven?” he glances up to Tomoe.

“I had only met him a couple of times, so I can’t say,” Tomoe sighs, “But I agree you should not call yourself a cripple, Ivar.”

Ivar grunts and rolls his eyes, but nods anyway, “I know. You have said that before.”

His brothers scoff and ruffle his hair, “Yeah you should stop that. Who knows, maybe we’ll forget that you’re a _cripple_ ,” Hvitserk grins.

Ivar shrugs their hands off him and takes Tomoe’s hand and lead her onto his chariot. Sneering, he left the training ground. His brothers only laugh and tease the two from behind.

“Raven?”

“Yes, Boneless?” Tomoe grins.

“Do you think he’s disappointed enough to leave?” He looks at her.

“Mind the way,” She says, turning Ivar’s head back to the road, “I don’t think so. I think he just misses his lover, and that affects his mood.”

“I’m being serious, Tomoe,” he groans.

“And I’m not?” Tomoe laughs, “Fine, I don’t know. I’ll try to talk to him tonight.”

Ivar nods, and they ride in silence.

 

* * *

 

However, Ienari didn’t come back last night and Tomoe has no idea where he could be right now. She asks people around, but everybody shakes their head to her question. No one has seen Ienari since the morning they left to train yesterday.

_Can it be?_

Tomoe searches for her brother frantically, running from alley to alley, careful not to be seen by Ivar so he wouldn’t be alerted. She spots Sigurd and asks him, but he shakes his head and decides to help her instead.

With the sun right above their head and no sign of Ienari, Sigurd and Tomoe decided to take a break on the defense wall, that happens to have Hvitserk and Ubbe conversing there as well. She told the two about Ienari and their expressions darken. They were just about to leave and search for Ienari when they spotted him, waving at them from the stairs.

“I’ve been told you were looking for me?” Ienari says, smiling at them.

“Where have you been?” Tomoe asks, worried.

“Uh, I’ve been with Ivar?” he tilts his head, confused, “He’s getting a huge tattoo on his back, by the way.”

Tomoe almost laughs at herself. She had been avoiding Ivar all this time and yet Ienari was with him all along?

“Where did you sleep last night?” Ubbe asks, suspicious, “Tomoe told us you didn’t come back, and nobody saw you.”

Ienari’s calm expression turns dark instantly, “There is a huge force of Saxons there,” he points, “I was spying on them.”

“ _Spying_ on them, huh?” Hvitserk circles Ienari, “How do we know you’re not _spying_ on _us?_ ”

“You don’t,” Ienari answers, sighing, “Since you don’t take Tomoe as my answer.”

Ubbe scoffs, “And? What did you get from your _spying_ activity?”

“They’re waiting for something—or someone. But they won’t be attacking soon,” Ienari explains.

“And do you think there is something we should do to prepare ourselves?” Sigurd asks.

Ienari shrugs, “Strengthen our defenses? Prepare for battle anyway?”

“Does Ivar know?”

“Yes. He said he has a plan,” Ienari nods, “Didn’t tell me what it was, though.”

The brothers grunt at Ienari’s words and left the tower. They complain about how Ivar never discusses anything with them as they left.

Ienari stares at Tomoe who stays behind, looking at him in worry. He approaches her and pulls her for a hug.

“I’m sorry for making you worry,” Ienari says, patting her head.

Tomoe shakes her head and pulls away, “ _Everyone_ was worried. They all thought you have left them—us.”

“I won’t leave, sister. Not as long as you’re here.”

“And if I wasn’t here? Would you stay?” She glances at him.

Ienari presses his lips together, thinking, “Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn’t,” he says, “I don’t hate Ivar or his brothers, you see. Ivar has a huge potential and if he can get better, he would be unstoppable,”

“What I said yesterday was my form of tough love. Surely you know that?” Ienari smiles.

Tomoe scoffs, remembering her training with Ienari when she was younger, “I know. But we’re still worried, anyway.”

“If I were to leave,” Ienari chuckles sadly, “It’d be for home.”

Tomoe stays quiet and nods. She leans her head against Ienari’s shoulder and chuckles, “Home, huh? Yes, that’d be nice.”

 

* * *

 

Tomoe pulls her dagger out and turns around as someone holds her from behind. Her mind wonders who would dare to do so even though everyone knows she belongs to Ivar. But it never came to her mind that the one who dare to hug her from behind is the same man as the one she belongs to.

Her jaws drop in surprise and awe. Ivar is standing up with the help of metal boots and braces, and a crutch. He grins, looking down right to her eyes, and Tomoe returns his grin.

“I’m _literally_ going to make them forget that I’m a crip—unable to walk,” says Ivar.

Tomoe chuckles and slaps his chest jokingly, “I also won’t mistake you for a snake slithering about on the ground anymore,” Ivar laughs and she continues, “On another side, how am I supposed to kiss you when you’re this tall?”

“Try standing on your tip-toes,” he teases and laughs as she gets on her tip-toes, yet she still stands way too short for him.

“Lean in, help me out, would you?” Tomoe complains at the still laughing Ivar, “Fine, then! Guess there will be no kisses from now on?” teases Tomoe.

“Oh, don’t be mad, little raven,” Ivar chuckles, tilting her head up, “I was just admiring you from a new angle,” and leans in to kiss the petite young woman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * You can write Ivar's name in katakana which would be アイバー (read: Aibaa) , however, both katakana and hiragana are something that appears in the future, they used to only use kanji/Chinese character back in this period. It doesn't fit the timeline of this story.
> 
> So what did Tomoe write when she wrote Ivar's name?  
> \- If I were her, I'd just write straight up 弓人(read: yumibito) which means bowman. However, it's not a name, more like a profession.  
> \- There are a lot of Japanese names that means archer, however I just really like the kanji of this one: 達矢 (read: Tatsuya). Because 達 as in 達人 means an expert, and 矢 means arrow.
> 
> *In case you're curious of Tomoe's and Ienari's name writing:  
> \- Tomoe (巴)  
> \- Isshi no Ienari (一矢 家斉)
> 
> *Blind samurai did exist, his name was Otani Yoshitsugu.


	8. Defying Orders

It doesn’t surprise Tomoe when Ivar asks the slave girl to strip when she said that she’s willing to do anything for him. Nor does it surprise her when he asks the girl to kiss him. It doesn’t surprise her, yes; But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t bother her.

She watches them as they kiss and whisper something she can’t hear from her position by the window behind Ivar. She watches as Ivar’s shoulders tensed and immediately knows where the girl’s hands are. She clears her throat and directs her gaze elsewhere.

They whisper back-and-forth, and she can see that whatever this girl said to him pleased him very much. Tomoe takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, trying to calm herself down. When she opens them back, she slips away from the room, exiting silently.

Tomoe heads home, and climbs the ladder to her attic. There, she stands in front of her _kamidana_ and bows and claps her hands, praying to the Gods for . She can feel herself becoming just a little bit calmer than before, and she takes out her iron fan that she always has tucked inside her sash.

She had said that she cannot dance, but that was half a lie. While yes, she can’t dance for entertainment, she can dance worship dances just fine.

She begins to dance, slow, and refined. While her iron fan isn’t made for dancing, the fan is the only one she has, and it’s decorated beautifully, even though beauty isn’t what it was made for.

She thinks of the lords back home, of their wife and concubines. She thinks of Ivar and her, how Ivar made her his, but still kisses the slave girl. It troubles her heart, but Ivar is one of the leaders of an army, he’s not meant to be with _just_ her. Her brain understands that, but she blames her heart for feeling troubled over it.

Tomoe’s eyes flutter closed, and her body moves to the imaginary sounds of flute, drums, and bells. Her mind takes her back into a long journey inside her own memories. She recalls of the day they started calling her “Tomoe”, of the day Ienari got employed to Lord Emishi’s son, of the day Lord Emishi’s son got married to a princess from other clan, while Lord Emishi takes up on being Ienari’s new master, and of the day Ienari informed her that they will depart to China together.

They made her smile with both sadness and happiness. She can feel her tears trickling down her cheeks, and her movement grows faster, though it shouldn’t be. Then her mind wonders around the day she arrived in China, how close she had grown to one of Ienari’s comrades while she was there. Who knows, maybe she would’ve get married to him if she had chosen to go back home instead of going to Frankia.

But she never regrets ever going to Frankia. After all, it brings her to where she is now. A strong warrior, a lover of a great man, and it had taken her to the world that was so alien to her. It would be perfect if only she can go back to see how her father is doing and how Japan has become. It has been five years now, and she can’t begin to describe how much she misses her father and her country and hometown.

Her moves begin to grow even faster and clumsier, until she drops her fan to the wooden floor beneath her. The heavy iron fan drops onto the floor with a loud clang, and she opens her eyes, panting.

Tomoe bends down to take her fan back, and notices someone staring at her, so she turns around.

Ivar is sitting by the attic entrance, his legs rest on the ladders. He stares at her with a worried gaze, but immediately smiles once she looks back at him.

Tomoe turns away from him to her _kamidana_ and bows and claps her hands before approaching Ivar to sit beside him, sighing. He brushes her hair behind her ears and strokes her cheek.

“I thought you said you cannot dance?” Ivar asks softly, teasing.

 “I cannot,” Tomoe answers, “I was praying.”

Ivar hums and nods, “You were gone when I looked for you. Why didn’t you say anything when you left?”

“You seemed busy,” she looks down at her folded fan.

“You were jealous,” Ivar smirks, but it immediately falls as he spots a single tear falling down her eye, “Tomoe, you know I don’t love her. She was just a slave.”

Tomoe nods, “I understand, but my heart doesn’t.”

He pulls her closer and kisses her softly, “I only love you.”

She sniffles, “I know.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologise,” she shakes her head, “It is I who must apologise for not understanding your position. After all, it is normal for a leader such as you to take on another woman,”

“Forgive me,” she bows.

When she faces Ivar, however, his eyes show great sadness as he pulls her and holds her tight in his arms. She can feel his body shivers against her as he holds her even tighter.

“No, no, no, no,” Ivar chants, “Don’t do that, no. It’s my fault, don’t say such a thing anymore.”

Tomoe hums and buries her face at the crook of his neck.

 

* * *

 

York has been busy for the whole month, setting up traps and doors in every strategic areas in the city. They’re all part of Ivar’s plan against the Saxons, and once his brothers heard of what he had planned, none of them objected nor complained about him not discussing the whole thing with them. They just go with it.

Ienari and Tomoe had been busy themselves, making weapons for them and some people who had agreed on learning how to use said weapons. Since Ivar’s plan is to surround the enemies in closed areas and shoot them with arrows while they’re trapped, Ienari suggested on making a weapon from the past, a kind of crossbow that would fire four arrows at the same time called _oyumi._

Truth to be told, it has been a long time since Ienari had used one, since he prefers to be precise on shooting his targets, he has been using his normal bow. But he decided to re-teach himself and everyone else on how to use one. It’s not ideal, but it will have to do.

Ienari and Tomoe had also been busy spying on the Saxons. While the Ragnarssons still haven’t trust Ienari completely, they trust Tomoe. So they ask her to come with him during his spying activity.

Ienari confessed that Prince Alfred knew of him when he was residing in Wessex. The young boy took fancy of his foreign looks and would come to visit him, both during the time he was still working under his grandfather and after he quitted. Though, he didn’t once visit him after he returned from his travels. They said their goodbyes with a bow before they flee from Wessex, just before the Vikings came.

In return, Ivar also told them that he had once played chess with Alfred. He told them that Alfred is clever and calculating. He admitted that he lost to Alfred, which alerted the others. However, Ienari convinced them that Alfred isn’t supposed to have been given authority to command an army just yet. He’s too young, and his father, like his grandfather, loves to be in control a bit too much.

The Saxon soldiers was restless that day, Tomoe and Ienari observe. They were busy sharpening their weapons and polishing their armours. They fed their horses generously and loaded their ladder on a cartwheel. They will attack tomorrow, one knight said to the others. Knowing that, the two came back to York at once, informing the warriors and shieldmaidens, and of course, the brothers.

 

* * *

 

Ivar had ordered Tomoe to go with the others to shoot the trapped Saxon soldiers, and maybe join him after her arrows had all run out. Tomoe follows Ivar’s orders and hides inside one of the tower with her _oyumi_ and _naginata_. Waiting for the gate to be closed and horn to be blown so she could start shooting and trying out her ability in using both of her new weapons in real battle.

She listened carefully as the steps of the Saxons grow nearer and nearer, until the sound of the gates being closed are heard and horns are blaring. She shows herself and shoots at them. The unique crossbow shoots multiple arrows at once, killing many Saxons.

Tomoe watches as the Saxons finally free themselves as she and the other archers are reloading their arrows, and moves to follow them from the top of the walls, shooting at them once or twice when she can. While she reloads, she glances around the ground and towers, looking for Ivar.

He’s nowhere to be seen, not even in the highest tower where he originally observes. Tomoe guesses that he’s probably on his way to his chariot and decided to worry on her own matter. She descends from the tower, and with arrows she has left, she reloads and shoots the Saxons.

The sound of Ivar’s chariot catches her attention, and a few moments later he and his chariot rides past her. Carefully, Tomoe follows after him from the sidelines.

However, when Ivar fell down from his chariot, the first thing that came to her mind was to run and help him. But seeing the amount of the Saxon soldiers before him, she knows that doing so would cause danger to both Ivar and herself. After all, neither of them carries a shield, and arrows would be fatal to them. She stays hidden with her last round of arrows ready.

She watches as Ivar kills the soldier who caused him to fell brutally, and as he leans against his chariot, Tomoe creeps closer carefully. Ivar begins to shout taunts at the Saxons in Norse, and Tomoe wonders if he does so in purpose or if he had forgotten to switch his language. But it doesn’t seem to matter much since his shouting and yelling scare the Saxons anyway.

An arrow is shot by the Saxon, but it missed Ivar by a few centimetres. Still, it drives Tomoe to pull the trigger of her _oyumi_ and shoots her last round at the Saxons, killing a couple of them. She marches forward after that, showing herself to the Saxons with her _naginata_ in hand while Ivar taunts them to kill him.

Ubbe shows up with a number of forces behind him. He watches as his brother shouts at the Saxons with Tomoe by his side, standing by. He holds his forces on their position to watch Ivar a little longer, before commanding them to attack.

There, beneath the rain in the town of York, hundreds of Saxons and Northmen alike lose their lives. Tomoe pays no mind to her surrounding and keeps slashing and killing her enemies.

She takes a moment to catch her breath and slashes to her right, where she sees Ivar pointing his blade at one of the Saxon soldiers. She glances at the man as he points his sword back at Ivar and steps forward.

Tomoe scoffs, and before two forces clashes in front of the man, she frees herself from the crowd and faces the man with her _naginata_ raised. She swings her weapon at him, and he dodges her attack. _That’s weird_ , she observes, _he doesn’t carry a shield_.

 The man and she attack each other back and forth, slashing minor wound towards each other. _He’s good_ , Tomoe thinks to herself. She blocks his attack with the pole of her _naginata_ and throws him off-balance. She swings at him, missing his neck by a breath.

“I admit your strength,” says Tomoe in Saxon, smirking inside her war mask, “My name is Yngvildr the Raven! What is yours, warrior?”

Introducing selves to worthy enemies are a custom, and seeing his abilities, she’s tempted to do so. So she did, pausing their fight to introduce herself.

“You’re a woman,” he says, surprised. After all, Tomoe’s armours concealed every hint of her being one. He shakes his head, “No. You’re a child. How sad you are, to be fighting in this battle in such a young age.”

“I am no child,” Tomoe laughs, “I am young and short in stature, yes. But a child, I am not,” she rests her weapon in mocking manner, “I told you my name. Are you not going to tell me yours?”

“My name is Heahmund,” he says, “I am a man of God.”

 “What a coincidence!” Tomoe raises her _naginata_ , “I happen to be one of Odin’s ravens!” she shouts as she attacks him.

He steps backward to avoid her attack, but it causes him to get shot by a single arrow. Tomoe laughs as he grunts and pull out the arrow. He then commands a retreat and Tomoe allows him to get onto his horse and flees.

“We’ll play again, yes?” Tomoe asks as he left, laughing cheerfully.

The Vikings cheer for their victory, and Tomoe can hear the laugh of her own brother, the laugh that caused the river to form ripple back in Naniwa, now causes ripples in puddles of the blood of their enemies.

 

* * *

 

The Ragnarssons are quick to start a fight with each other, and Tomoe decides that she’s too tired and wants none of their fight. She left the church to help the others loot the remaining bodies of the Saxon soldiers.

 

* * *

 

“Hvitserk and Ubbe are going to sneak out during the night to propose peace with the Saxons,” informs Ienari as he enters their house.

Tomoe raises her eyebrows, “Sneak?”

“Yes,” he says, sitting on the chair across his sister, “Ivar told them not to, but they’re going to do it anyway.”

Tomoe sighs, “What about Sigurd?”

Ienari shakes his head, “Sigurd is going to help them, but he won’t come along.”

She nods and pours her brother a cup of tea, “What about you?”

“Well, Alfred knows me. So maybe it’ll help with the negotiations. Maybe. Hopefully.”

Tomoe hums and sips her own cup of tea. She reaches inside her sash and pull out her iron fan, placing it in front of him.

“Be careful.”

Ienari nods and accepts the fan, tucking it inside his sash.

 

* * *

 

When the gentle knocks come late at night, Tomoe pretends to be asleep. She can hear the door creaks open and the boys whisper among themselves before closing back the door. She rises and peeks from the window of her room as they get onto their horses and left.

Tomoe paces inside her room, restless. She decided to put on some layers and goes out to visit Ivar. Whom, as it turns out, is completely awake and aware of what their brothers are doing. He invites her to come closer to him, nonetheless. He invites her to wait for them to come back and see how it went.

 

* * *

 

Some knights spit at Ienari, and he knows they must have remembered him. He ignores their taunts and words of disappointment, and approaches the King’s tent with Ubbe and Hvitserk calmly.

They stripped them off their weapons, as expected. However, upon finding Ienari’s fan, they inspect it for a few seconds, feeling the skeleton and paper to see if there is anything that might suggest it for being a weapon.

“Can’t a man fan themselves?” Ienari asks, eyes wide and innocent.

The guards shrug and hand the fan back to him. Ienari nods in gratitude and tucks the fan back in his sash.

Alfred leans back on his seat upon seeing Ienari, surprised. Ienari, on the other hand, bows shallowly and smiles at him. He stands beside Ubbe as he proposes a truce with the Saxon.

Heahmund spits at Ubbe’s request and Aethelwulf scoffs. He glances at the three, and tilts his head,

“You,” he points at Ienari, “You look familiar.”

Alfred answers his father, “He’s a former knight, father.”

“A traitor?” Aethelwulf sneers.

Ienari smiles calmly, but says nothing.

“I didn’t see him earlier in battle, though,” Alfred adds.

“Perhaps you saw a man with a fox mask there?” Ienari chuckles, his eyes disappear into a pair of thin lines, “Because I know I saw you, Prince Alfred.”

“A fox!” Aethelwulf hisses, “So they speak the truth! I thought they were delusional when they told me about a fox!” he points his index finger at Ienari, “You! You killed plenty of my man and you dare come here?”

Ienari bows slightly. He says, “It was a battle. Surely you understand? Now, I don’t want to kill any knight of yours anymore.”

Aethelwulf glares at him, then at the Ragnarssons, who seem to not understanding half of their conversation. From Ubbe’s pronunciation earlier, Aethelwulf knows that he’s not fully fluent with their language.

“Father,” Alfred says, “May I talk to the former knight?”

“The traitor?” Aethelwulf repeats, “Talk of what?”

“Of why he’s with the Northmen.”

“Good question, my son! So ask him here. You, you heard him. Well? Answer him!”

Ienari inhales, “My sister serves under their youngest brother, Ivar the Boneless. I just want to protect her, like a good brother would. I spoke the truth when I said that I do not wish to fight you anymore.”

“Your sister,” Heahmund speaks, “Is she short? Does she wear a mask?”

“It seems you have met her,” Ienari nods, “Prince Alfred, you know me well. I quitted the army to look for my sister. Now that I’ve found her, I’m doing the best I can to protect her, I don’t take pleasure in killing my former comrades. I only wish to live with her in peace.”

It’s half a lie. Ienari enjoys a fight, no matter who he’s going against. While yes, he wishes to live with Tomoe in peace, he knows that even in peace he would still be looking for a way to participate in a battle of some kind. After all, it would be a real shame to waste his ability, strength, and energy on lying around pretending to be a normal man when he is not, in fact, a normal man.

But that’s a truth that nobody needs to know, at least not now. He has survived living and being seen as a normal man, and he won’t blurt out the truth to anyone, let alone his enemies.

Alfred nods in understanding to his reason and turns towards his father and Heahmund, who look as hard as they were before. He sighs and dismisses the three, saying that their answer will come the first light tomorrow and the guards escort the three of them into a tent.

Once they’re there, Ienari takes his fan out and fans himself, pacing back-and-forth while Ubbe and Hvitserk sit on their own bed.

“So what did they say?” Asks Hvitserk.

“They’ll tell us their answer the first thing in the morning,” Ubbe answers.

Hvitserk nods and sits in silence. He glances at Ienari, who has now stopped pacing around, but stays still by the entrance with his fan closed. He asks him to sit down, but Ienari puts his finger in front of his lips.

“Someone is coming,” he whispers.

And someone does come. They’re Heahmund and some of his knights. They killed the guards guarding their tent, and barge into their tent with swords drawn.

Heahmund glare at the three in disgust. He approaches Ubbe and hits him hard with the handle of his own axe.

At that, Ienari hits one of Heahmund’s knights with his closed iron fan to open his way to defend Ubbe and Hvitserk. He points his fan at them in defensive stance. Heahmund sneers at him, and throws all of their weapons at them. He exits their tent after, followed by his own knights while the three scrambled around taking their own weapons before exiting the tent.

The knights open their way towards York and throw dirt at them as they run pass them. They hold back their shame in silence.

**Author's Note:**

> Japanese customs and weapons are explained here!
> 
> * Back in the day, commoners don't have surnames, except for Samurai and Kuge. So people would receive a new name by their master or by monks appointed by their master once they turn into a samurai.  
> * Naginata is a polearm weapon with curved blade at the top  
> * Katana is a curved sword commonly used by samurais  
> * Oodachi is a great sword aka a very long and heavy katana  
> * Tantou is a dagger/short sword  
> * Onna-bugeisha is a female warrior, commonly samurai's family protecting their household, but some do go into the battlefield
> 
> Thank you for reading! Constructive critics are very welcome!


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